


Getting By With a Little Help From My Friends

by SttatusQuo



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Character Death, Eventual Smut, Human Katsuki Yuuri, M/M, Vampire Victor Nikiforov, Vampire Yuri Plisetsky, Vampire drama, Werewolf Minami Kenjirou, Werewolf Otabek Altin, Witch Mila Babicheva
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2020-04-07 14:25:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19086877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SttatusQuo/pseuds/SttatusQuo
Summary: If you haven't read this: https://archiveofourown.org/series/719598 , it is the AU this story is drawn from (yeah, I'm going to color outside the lines a little, also)Victor's being insensitive and selfish. Yuri and Otabek are still working out their relationship.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iguanastevens](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iguanastevens/gifts).



The first time Yuri had made the dominant move of flipping Otabek on to his back, he’d grabbed him very firmly by the throat in an act of high spirits and some half-remembered attempt to be scary. Otabek- already a self-conscious tinder box of anxiety and animal instinct- had transformed and knocked a surprised Yuri on to the floor with a matched set of 3 centimeter canines locked threateningly on to his throat. They’d growled in unison until Yuri had started laughing and lifted one hand to place it on top of his head, scratching behind an ear. “Beka, let me go.”

The wolf released him licked Yuri sloppily from chin to nose.

“Gross! Eeeewww!” Yuri was still laughing as he shoved the wolf off gently and wriggled back as he wiped the spit off his face. Otabek caught a glimpse of the Yuri he remembered sans fangs before a sound from the doorway drew their attention to Victor standing there. The wolf’s hackles went up as cool blue eyes flicked to him and then Yuri. “Go away old man,” snapped Yuri. “We’re fine.” 

Victor’s eyes met the wolf’s. The icy blue gaze might have intimidated him in human form. The wolf didn’t care. It dealt confidently with other predators.

After the door closed Otabek wandered closer and sat next to Yuri- not touching- but brazenly inside Yuri’s notoriously well-enforced personal space. Time passed. The wolf didn’t notice and Otabek didn’t care. The lack of heartbeat and unnatural stillness would have eaten away at him in human form anyway- probably forcing a conversation neither of them really wanted. Being there was enough. Eventually Otabek yawned. He’d been out all night because of the full moon and barely slept before Yuri woke him to find out what had happened and fill him in on the latest irritating thing Victor did while he'd been away. Vampires, he decided were entirely too up in each other’s business and probably extended that to their immediate circle of friends.

Yuri stood and stared down. “You need more sleep. Get back in the bed but if you shed too much you’re doing the laundry, wolf.” 

They’d talked about it later at the kitchen table as Otabek ate an early evening breakfast and Yuri drank carefully from a mug with a rainbow unicorn. “Your wolf is too sensitive,” Yuri griped, unaware of the olfactory temptation of the contents of his mug on the day after a full moon. 

“It knows a predator. Jump on top of me with your hand on my throat and your fangs bared and it will happen every single time. We’re not human anymore and the rules have changed.”

Yuri looked away. “I miss our friendship.”

“Yura, just because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s gone.”

Yuri banged his mug down a little too hard on the table. “Beka...Fuck! I hate this!”

“I do too but we’re here now.” He reached out to the small drop of blood that had splattered on the table then licked it off his finger before he picked up the spoon again and started eating.

~0~

Otabek noticed a few changes in the house after that. The first was that the knobs on his and Yuri’s doors changed to levers. The smell of wood shavings permeated the house when he got home one afternoon when the vampires should still have been resting. His first thought was wooden stakes and he bounded up the stairs to be sure Yuri was all right. Viktor had griped about “spoiling the aesthetic” of the hallway upstairs and then changed all the rest of the knobs to match after Yuri yelled at him to just live with it. Later Otabek realized it was for him to allow him to come and go as he pleased no matter what form he was in. The nights of a full moon there was usually a bowl of water on the floor in the kitchen the following morning just in case he was thirsty along with a freshly laundered cover over the bed in his room that always smelled like rainwater, plain soap, and sunshine. Otabek’s own gift had been two steel thermal mugs with metal straws that kept Yuri’s meals warm longer and kept spills pretty well contained.

The motorcycle had been the key. Thick as thieves again and with no particular agenda, they took off more nights than not. The necessary synchrony and physical closeness needed to ride well together reacquainted them to each other’s physical space and contact. They were painfully careful with each other – neither wanting to push too hard or move too fast. Months of missing, pining, mourning, and coming to grips with the fundamental alterations of their bodies made them hesitate over even the smallest intimacies they shared. Coming from a world where competitors would exuberantly haul a friend into a hug they learned that sometimes just the barest touch of one knee against another or rubbing elbows as they played video games spoke volume.

Their shared aversion to silver led them to markets that opened at dusk in search of jewelry that would blend in with the human world and not fall out during a shift. Yuri wore Otabek’s gift of an ear cuff made with a matte finished platinum with tiny stylized tiger paw prints meandering up the front. Yuri had been charmed by it until he had noticed that the seemingly random prints paced out the perfect shape of a compulsory rocker turn which Yakov had made him repeat endlessly whenever his step sequences got sloppy. He’d bitched about it endlessly to Otabek once their friendship struck up. Yuri whooped and then tackle-hugged Otabek off the bed with a thump and started tickling. Otabek was scrambling away with a hand planted in Yuri’s face when the door opened to reveal a concerned-looking Victor. 

They’d shot to their feet under his puzzled gaze. 

Yuri hadn’t stopped laughing as he tossed the cuff to Victor. “Figure it out, old man,” he’d chuckled, “Beka found his sense of humor.” He’d had one made for Otabek a few weeks later with wolf prints in a figure eight.

Occasionally Yuri would hand him the cuff to put on and model for him. “Beka, I’ll never see it on me. At least let me enjoy seeing it on you.” The first time it happened, Otabek demurred, feeling awkward and oddly grief stricken for his friend as they walked together in the early hours of the morning along streets filled with sensible beings who slept unaware of the monsters among them. “I made peace with this months ago,” Yuri said, suddenly serious and oddly mature as he thumped him gently on the shoulder with a fist. “Besides, you look so… pretty… with it on.” Then the chase was on as Yuri took off laughing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't read this: https://archiveofourown.org/series/719598 , it is the AU this story is drawn from (yeah, I'm going to color outside the lines a little, also)
> 
> Victor's being insensitive and selfish. Yuri and Otabek are still working out their relationship.

Eighteen months on...

Katsuki Yuri’s arms tightened around Otabek’s chest as they sped away from the house...

~0~

Early on, after the move to Germany and the big reveal that Katsuki Yuri was not a vampire hunter it became apparent that Victor and Katsuki were sweetly and touchingly in love and shockingly immature about it, given their age in Otabek’s opinion. He knew all the signs as he watched the Japanese man’s sweet awkwardness around Victor. He’d been much the same way around Yura when he was still human, albeit with less visible anxiety. 

Love did not conquer all. In fact, it had led to some of the quietest moments of epic tension that Otabek had ever seen. It had also been escalating in the last few months as Victor tried to press Katsuki into a decision about what kind of immortal to become without taking into account that the Japanese man might only want to live out his life in a single mortal span. Yura had taken Katsuki’s side and told Victor loudly and no uncertain terms that people who had a choice in whether or not to become immortal should be allowed to exercise that right. None of the three of the immortal residents had had that choice and he intended to be sure that the one person that did had that chance. Otabek stayed quiet because he certainly didn’t have a say in the matter unless Katsuki had something to ask him directly. As the angry discussions raged on, the Japanese man only got quieter and more withdrawn. Abruptly he had asked Victor for some time alone to think things over. 

It was the longest three weeks so far of Otabek’s and Yura’s immortal lives. Victor had done nothing but snap at everyone in the house when he wasn’t out hunting. 

It wasn’t all hunting, of course. Otabek had passed by the apartment Phichit and Katsuki shared and caught enough of Victor’s scent in the alley across the street that he knew the vampire was spending hours there every night. Putting his hand on the wall where the scent was strongest, he let Victor know he knew he was there. By the end of the first week Yuri and Otabek were taking off on his motorcycle just to avoid Victor and staying out until the impending dawn drove them back home. They’d got the time wrong the third day and had spent the daylight hours in a barn in the middle of nowhere buried under the sweet smell of late summer hay. Victor had called incessantly until Yuri had lived up to his Ice Tiger name and yelled things at Victor that brought a shocked look to Otabek’s face. After that they turned off both their phones and lay back in their cozy cave with their heads covered by their leather jackets. Neither expected to sleep but eventually they did. 

Otabek woke after dark with a cold nose on his throat followed shortly by a pair of cold lips as a leg snaked across his thighs and Yuri slithered on top to perch on top of his hips. “Hungry,” Yuri muttered, “I didn’t get supper and the least you can do is offer me breakfast.” Laughing, Otabek shoved him off and sat up, throwing the bales they’d stacked over them off and scenting the air. “There’s a horse down in the barn, go get your own breakfast.” 

Yura rolled out of the hay and jumped to the barn floor through the trap door, landing soundlessly so as not to startle his meal.

Otabek busied himself with stacking back the hay he’d disturbed in his rush to keep Yura out of the sun. He jumped through the same door and walked out to a small stand of trees and brush near the barn where he’d stashed his bike as he pulled on his jacket. He never looked back at Yura who hated it when anyone watched him take blood from a live source- even Victor. “It feels like they’re watching me have sex, Beka, I can’t stand it when Victor hovers over me to be sure I’m doing it right- like there’s a right way to kill something.” He’d seemed so embarrassed by it that Otabek never, ever looked and took care to give him all the space he could.

Yura showed up a few minutes later zipping the sleeves of his jacket over his gloves and talking to Christophe on the phone. The half-moon painted him in shades of silver and black and the wind whipped his hair like a banner. Otabek waited by the bike and leaned in to lick the smear of blood off his mouth before kissing him gently on the lips.

“I see you found the horse.”

“Yeah. Glad you could enjoy it too, asshole. Isn’t horse meat a national dish where you’re from?”

“What did Christophe want?”

“The usual. To know we’re safe and that Victor has suffered all day because of us… blah, blah, blah.”

Chuckling, Otabek handed Yura his helmet and strapped on his own before starting the bike. Yura’s hands patted his shoulders before slipping around his waist. Yura’s head tucked in close and he spoke over the roar of the engines. “We should do this again.”  
Victor had been coldly furious when they got back but eventually his need for social interaction overcame his temper and relationships moved back to a more normal tone even if Katsuki wasn’t back.

~0~

Three weeks later, Katsuki came back and within 48 hours the fragile agreement they all had to pretend nothing had happened began to fray. Early one morning after the sun was up they were all gathered in the kitchen, the vampires with a mug each of warm blood and Otabek and Katsuki with toast and a mug each of tea as they prepared to go rest for the day. 

Victor made one barbed comment too many and Yura snapped- slamming his mug down and grabbing Victor by the jacket to pin him against the front of the refrigerator. Katsuki stared in shock at the pair and jumped when Otabek took his upper arm gently and pulled him toward the hall murmuring “You could get hurt by accident and nobody wants that.” 

The Japanese man followed him down the hall away from the harsh Russian growls and shouting. Otabek grabbed Victor’s bulky pea coat and scarf from the coat rack and slid into his own jacket before he handed the clothing to Katsuki whispering “ Katsuki-san, please go wait by my motorcycle,” in his heavily accented English. Shoving him out the door quickly he went back to the kitchen and turned off the light, plunging the room into darkness and causing the fight to come to a spluttering halt. He flipped the light back on and listened to the stereo hisses with a tiny smirk as they both shielded their eyes from the bright light. 

“I’m taking Katsuki out on the bike. You two fix whatever’s between you or neither of us will be back until you do.”

“Yuuuurriiii?” Victor wheedled enticingly to try and charm Katsuki back to the kitchen.

“Too late, old man,” Yura spat. “He’s already outside. There’s only one heartbeat in the house.”

Victor’s icy blue gaze fixed on Otabek. “Bring him back. Now.”

With a quick shake of his head, Otabek looked at Yuri and found both love and understanding in his sharp green eyes before he turned and fled. He might have opened the front door wider than necessary to hear the muffled curses from the kitchen and hear that door slam hard enough to rattle the art on the hallway walls. He was smiling as he closed and locked the door.

“I’m going to let them work things out,” Otabek said as he walked toward the bike. “Right now we need to leave before Victor decides to do something stupid like put a blanket over his head and come out in the sun.”

Katsuki looked horrified and hastily threw a leg over the bike after Otabek started it. Two kilometers away, Otabek pulled over and turned off the bike so they wouldn’t have to shout. 

“I’m sorry for shoving you out the door like that,” Otabek said as he looked up and down the road as if afraid of being overheard.

“Victor’s afraid,” said Katsuki with a heavy sigh, “I’m undecided. I really don’t think I have enough information to make a decision I feel good about. I don’t know anything about you- werewolves- to really even make a decision.”

“We could,” Otabek said quietly, “go somewhere private and you can ask me anything you want about what I am if you want to.” He stared across the road as something solidified in his mind. “I wouldn’t have chosen this- being a werewolf- but it means that I get to spend lifetimes with the person I care about most on this earth. If you asked me to give it back and become human again. I wouldn’t do it.”

Yuri Katsuki nodded. “Phichit will be at the library and the publisher’s all day today. Why don’t we go to my apartment and I’ll make us some breakfast while we talk. There’s an extra futon for the spare room if you want to sleep. Then we can go back tonight.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Otabek Altin and Katsuki Yuri have a conversation. As expected it is ten kinds of awkward. Otabek and Yuri discuss the elephant in the room.  
> Everyone tries to be an adult because life, tough choices, and historically poor communication patterns.

In the spirit of food making conversation easier:

Breakfast was a rice omelet like nothing Otabek had ever had before, miso soup, and some perfectly cooked salmon with a light glaze that was both sweet and savory. Katsuki Yuri was a surprisingly good cook which Otabek appreciated. Fresh food on a plate was becoming something of a novelty in a house full of vampires. The green tea was… Otabek had never been a fan but Katsuki’s was decent enough he took a second cup. He pushed his dishes to the side and studied the cup held tightly in both hands.

The silence stretched out.

“We’re going to sit here all day,” Otabek mused internally. “I don’t know what he needs to hear and he doesn’t know how to ask me.”

The scrape of a chair sliding back and drew his attention to the man bowing formally to him from across the table.

“I’m so sorry,” Yuri stammered as he blushed to the tips of his ears. “I don’t know where to begin to asking questions.” His bow deepened perceptibly.

Otabek thought frantically. The bow was unnerving and the wolf could sense the distress. “These days since my … change… I think better outdoors. We should walk.”

Over Katsuki’s protests, Otabek helped clean the kitchen and they headed outdoors again. It was still early morning and the streets were congested with commuters. The sunlight was bright and Otabek realized how much he missed the sunshine before mid-day when the air still held the night’s softness and a hint of mist that blurred reality with a sense of fairy tale otherness. The first place Otabek went was to the alley across from the apartment building trailing an apprehensive but curious Katsuki. He gestured at a space along one wall with a view of their apartment window. “He watches from here, most nights when you don’t come over. I think he was here quite a bit of the time when you two were taking your break from each other.”

“How do you know? Did he tell you?” Katsuki’s voice was thin.

Otabek touched the side of his nose. “I can smell him, or rather the wolf can. Heightened senses are part of the package. I get more input from the environment than humans do even when I’m in human form. Vampires are similar but different with their senses.”

“How?”

They began to walk slowly down the sidewalk side by side, thus annoying the workers rushing to their jobs. Otabek could smell it and said so to Yuri who seemed nonplussed and suggested a nearby park. The man was thoughtful and politely considerate of strangers.

Otabek sighed internally and proceeded. “They’re more predatory by nature and even though we both hunt prey, wolves are fundamentally pack animals and humans crave companionship. Vampires don’t need others as fundamentally as we do.” 

Katsuki nodded thoughtfully and Otabek continued, “We have similar hearing, I as far as I can tell. Their eyesight is better- especially at night- but my sense of smell is about twice as good as theirs. We are both faster than humans. I can run further but I’d lose in a sprint- even on four legs.” Yuri’s eyes widened behind his glasses and his heart hammered faster with the surge of adrenaline. 

They continued on in silence for a moment. Otabek- recognizing that there was indeed another person more anxious, uncertain, and retiring than he was- decided to open up a little more. If he didn’t then things were going to just keep careening along and he wanted to prevent a crash that would send them all careening out of their already unstable orbits with each other. He was profoundly uncomfortable being the one to explain the new universe Katsuki found himself in but he was in the best position of the three of them.

He had just got Yuri back. Victor was integral to Yuri’s stability now. Otabek and Yuri were committed to however long the universe saw fit to keep them together and Victor was an essential part of that. Victor, by way of his relationship with Yuri, was coming to the realization that something of what Otabek and Yuri shared was something that he might share with another. This was, he realized with sudden clarity, Victor’s first true love and his urge to control everything about something uncontrollable was just- creating shockwave after shockwave of drama that didn’t need to exist. Plisetsky might be a god of chaos. Victor was well on his way to pushing past ordinary chaos and elevating it into an art form to the benefit of no one.  
Yuri Katsuki had only kindness, anxiety, and intellect to defend himself with and it just wasn’t fair. 

Katsuki was calming down as they walked into the small park and found a bench. They would have still been staring at each other awkwardly if they had stayed in the apartment. 

“Does it hurt? The change?” Finally the Japanese man was finding his voice as they sat close enough for privacy but with a measured distance between them.

Otabek was expecting that one. Every werewolf movie in history seemed to torture the transforming human. Yuri needed facts, though. “No. Because it’s magical the transformation is pretty sudden. If you don’t want to change or are fighting not to it can be uncomfortable but nothing like what you see in the movies. It’s like when you take a couple of days off from stretching and have to get back to where you were… or the morning after a performance.” Katsuki smiled grimly and nodded, clearly getting it. It was a coin they’d all paid back in their athletic days.

“It still hurt plenty when I was bitten,” Otabek said with a grimace. “It healed really quickly though, so it wasn’t for long.”

Another long silence stretched out. Otabek could feel the man next to him thinking and heard his heart speed up before the next question.

“Does he drink your blood?”

Otabek’s heart was suddenly beating in his ears. He hadn’t expected that question quite so bluntly. “No,” he said hesitantly, “It hasn’t really come up- I mean we’ve had some kissing accidents so he knows what my blood tastes like.” He could feel the dark burn of a blush creeping from his cheeks to the rest of his face. 

Katsuki’s fingers had drifted up to his mouth and he moved them away quickly as he realized Otabek was watching. He blushed as he nodded. “Same here. There have been some nicks here and there but I guess that’s a hazard to kissing vampires. Victor’s so… magnetic. Everything about him just seems magical and yet he’s got all these weaknesses. Sometimes I just sit and watch them and wonder what it would be like. But there are so many restrictions and vulnerabilities. Is your life as constrained as theirs is?”

“Silver and full moons are the only real vulnerabilities I’m aware of. I’ve heard of monk’s hood being poison to us but not much past that.” Otabek thought for a minute. “I won’t promise anything but if you’re considering becoming a part-time wolf, you might want to spend some time around actual wolves. I think that they will understand you’re not a tourist. There’s a Japanese wolf there that is a huge fan of yours from when you were dancing- he’d probably be the best person to fill you in on the cultural aspects of being … what I am… in Japan.”

Yuri looked shocked. “There are werewolves in Japan? I know there are legends. Okami and kitsune- that kind of thing but… _uwa_ ,” his voice trailed off. 

Otabek nodded. “Apparently so. You can be born as a wolf as well as being turned.”

The Japanese man stifled a yawn and stood up quickly. “We should go back, I think. I know I’m going to need some sleep before I see Victor tonight.” He faced Otabek and bowed deeply and formally. “I appreciate you sharing such personal information. I suspect it wasn’t comfortable for you.”

“One more thing, please” Otabek looked at the ground between his feet. Katsuki settled back on the bench and inclined his head to listen.

Plunging ahead, Otabek said, “The anxiety- all the negative emotions, really… those go when you’re the wolf. It might be waiting for you when you change back but generally since some time passes those emotions fade during the change and when you come back they’re less urgent and often less painful. His smile was rueful, “Sometimes being away for a long time can make things worse. That was one of the things I learned the hard way. Also it can be tempting to stay in wolf form to avoid unpleasantness. You remain you at your core but the wolf protects you. Even from yourself. It can take some getting used to at first as you learn to control it.”

Katsuki stared at him with a thousand questions in his eyes and Otabek heard the click of his throat as he swallowed most of them.

“I think that the most important part is that no matter what you decide, you won’t be alone.” Otabek looked down again. “You’re important to the group now and if you left… there would be this hole. Besides you’re so important to Victor now…”  
The man sharing the bench blushed and looked like he wanted to just melt into the earth before he muttered something that even with his acute hearing Otabek had to strain to hear. “He… to me…”  
It was time to wrap up. Otabek squared his shoulders and tried to sum things up. “What I’m trying to say is that Victor and I… we were both alone when it happened to us. You won’t be and you won’t be alone forever.”  
“Forever is a long time to contemplate,” Katsuki muttered as he turned toward home and waited politely for Otabek to catch up. The walk home wasn’t as uncomfortable is it could have been.

~0~

After getting Otabek the spare bedding, Katsuki drifted into the bedroom and closed the door. Otabek looked around for a spot to crash and set up the futon between the dining table and the wall- out of any of the traffic patterns. He turned his phone on and ignored the messages from Victor. There was only one from Yuri.

YP: We worked it out. He’s not happy with any of us right now. I think he’s scared.

Otabek sat cross-legged and typed back.

OA: He needs to quit trying to control this. 

After a moment a string of messages from Vicktor flickered to life on his phone in a fast sequence.

YP: Fuck. He heard my phone go off and he knows your phone’s active. Sorry. 

OA: Do I even want to read them?

YP: I just told the old man to lay off or you’d block him.

OA: Tell him how lucky he is that I didn’t drag Katsuki to somewhere he can’t cross the threshold. The man needs time and some space to think things over.

YP: He called Chris to see if he could get him to go after you two. I didn’t think it was possible but Chris uses worse language than I do and in more languages. I am going to have to up my game.

YP: I told him what you said. I didn’t know Victor knew words like that. 

OA: …

YP: Did you go to sleep?

YP: Oi!!! Beka!!!

OA: Katsuki asked me if you ever drank my blood. It made me wonder.

YP: …

YP: Where the fuck did that come from Beka? You know I don’t drink live unless I have to. 

OA: Is unpleasant because of the wolf?

YP: Beka… no. We can’t have this conversation on the phone. 

OA: You’re right. That wasn’t fair.

YP: Are you coming back tonight?

OA: I’m bringing Katsuki back. You and I should leave them alone and go somewhere away from the drama.

YP: The cats are all here staring at me like I did something wrong. They miss their heater. I agree.

OA: Turn on the electric blanket and tell them I’ll be back tonight. We're ok. I just wondered.

YP: < 5 angry cat face emojis > They are not buying it. I'm not sure I'm buying that either.

OA: I’m going to sleep now. I'm exhausted from all the interaction.

There was a long pause and Otabek’s phone beeped again.

YP: Sweet dreams. It’s because I’m afraid that if we did that and it didn’t go well that it would ruin us for all time, Beka. 

OA: <3

~0~

Katsuki got off the bike first and took a deep breath. Otabek could hear the nervous pounding of his heart. 

The sun was almost down and he could envision the vampires standing in the hallway waiting on them to either come in or the sun to go down enough they could open the door. He could almost feel them at the door listening. It was something of a surprise when the door opened and a slender figure clad entirely in black with a full face motorcycle helmet strode out, leaving the door open. There was an infinitesimal flinch before Yuri lifted his arm to hide his eyes from the last rays of the sun before he hurried down the few stairs to the driveway to stand near Katsuki who smiled and bowed politely.

“He’s in the library and he won’t tell you how upset he is at the idea of you leaving him,” Yuri’s voice was muffled by the helmet, “so I have to.”

Katsuki squared his shoulders and headed to the stairs. When the door closed Otabek stared at Yuri. “Look at you all dressed up and standing out in the sunlight.”

Yuri’s shrug was eloquent. “I’ve been planning this as a surprise. Are you surprised?”

Otabek shook his head and smiled. “You never fail to surprise me, Yura. Besides it’s a good thing to have for emergencies.”

“Yeah,” Yuri turned his head and flinched back, “ Shit that’s bright.”

Otabek threw a leg over the bike and buckled on his helmet. “We’ll head east, then.”

Yuri climbed on behind him and laid his head on Otabek’s back as the bike roared to life. The arms wrapped around him pulled Yura tightly against him as if by being plastered to him it could somehow transcend the layers of clothing. Otabek patted Yuri’s hands where they met at the bottom of his chest and felt his friend relax a little as the helmet rested against Otabek’s shoulder.

The night was young and they had a lot of ground to cover.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The great escape does not go as well as hoped.

The kilometers sped by as they left the furthest reaches of the city, Yuri was wrapped around him like a second skin following his movements with such swift precision that it felt like he was an extension of his own body. 

The road flattened into fields briefly and turned west in one of the country twists that marked the boundary of someone’s farmland straight into the last rays of the setting sun. Yuri’s head whipped to his opposite shoulder and ducked behind him. Otabek felt his entire body shudder as the arms around him tightened into a steely grip that made it difficult to breathe. He started to slow the bike and felt Yuri shake his head as one hand detached to pat the area over his heart hard and fast in a clear message to keep going. 

Fifteen minutes more and Otabek slowed to pull off the road, following a break in the brush to get them away from the road. Yuri hadn’t moved since he’d ducked earlier and his stillness as he clung tightly was unnerving. The woods were still and silhouettes of trees surrounded them. He shut off the bike and waited for Yuri to climb off. After a moment he did leaving one hand on Otabek’s shoulder, head down and tension in every line of his body.

Something was wrong. Otabek had suspected as much by how quiet and still Yuri had been after they got caught in that bright flash of light. Off the bike in a flash he was facing Yuri who had latched on to his forearms with a desperate grip as he _stumbled_ back.

“God, Yuri,” Otabek was staring at his own dark reflection in the helmet’s face shield as his hand touched the plastic to lift it up. Yuri jerked his head back sharply.

“Stop!” 

Otabek froze. 

“Is it dark?” Yuri’s voice was strained and low behind the mask. “I can’t see… Beka, I can’t see right now.”

“The sun’s down now, Yuri, and it is dark enough that there are no shadows on the ground. We’re in the woods on the eastern side of a hill.”

Yuri drew a shuddering breath and reached up to remove his helmet. The black balaclava he wore under it covered his face except for an opening over his eyes and across his nose. The skin was red and his eyes were swollen shut. He dropped the helmet and tore the cloth away, faced etched in pain. His voice was pained and bitter self-reproach. “Well it was a good idea until it wasn’t.”

“How bad is this, Yura?” Otabek was beginning to panic a little. Yuri’s fear was infectious.

“I don’t know,” Yuri’s voice came through clenched teeth- so much pain and uncertainly in his tone. Otabek hadn’t heard since their first fumbling apologies to each other so many months before. It was horrifying to see his spitfire boyfriend in this state. 

He pulled Yuri toward the bike a little, “Let’s get you back to Victor. He’ll know what to do.” He was fumbling in his pocket for his phone to call… Victor… Minami… Chris… someone- his wolf wanted him to reach out to a pack for assistance. Otabek was completely in tune with that.

An iron vise closed on his arm and Yuri’s hand fumbled only slightly before he plucked the phone neatly from Otabek’s hand to slid it in his own pocket. “No don’t. I think I just need some time and… blood. It... It feels like it is trying to heal.”

“Done,” Otabek unzipped his leather jacket and Yuri stiffened at the sound. “No. Beka… there’s wildlife here… you could catch…”

“If you think that I am leaving you here alone to go chase down a rabbit for you to eat when I’m right here, you can just fuck right off with that idea,” Otabek growled. Intent on getting his way he snapped, “The only decision you get in this is whether or not you bite me, or I cut my own skin.” He stripped off his jacket and tossed it across the bike. His shirt followed. 

He was digging his knife out of his back pocket as Yuri drew a shaky breath.

“Don’t you say a word,” Otabek snapped as he opened the knife.

~0~

Tension sang through Yuri at the scrape and click of the knife opening. He was a conflicted mess. The physical pain was diminishing but the loss of his sight was truly frightening. The vulnerability was intolerable and every instinct in him screamed for him to heal as fast as possible. His teeth were clenched so hard he could feel the points of his fangs digging uncomfortably deep behind his closed lips. He could smell the wildlife around him and his hunger was a growing discomfort in his throat. As much as he trusted Beka, it just wasn’t in his nature to trust anyone except Nikolai completely. He trusted himself even less because he *hadn’t* been paying attention to Victor as he tried to teach him how to feed safely for himself but also for others. He’d tasted human blood before but he’d been so far into the extremis of hunger that he hadn’t really noticed. Down deep he knew that there was a reason that Victor had emphasized every other type of feeding except live from a human vein.

He was out of choices because Otabek wasn’t letting this go and desperate enough for blood that he knew he was dangerous.

The flames of the thirst fanned themselves into a forest fire of heat and desire when Otabek took off his jacket. Yuri wanted to run but couldn’t. He wanted to bathe in the warmth and scent of Otabek and pull them both under until they drowned. This couldn’t end well, his inner predator stalked back and forth behind the barrier of his stubborn will and determination to protect Otabek.

He drew a breath to warn… and then Otabek snapped at him.

Fear fed rage and rage surged until he was sure his skin would crisp from its heat.

The wall of his control crashed down. Other senses informed him of where Otabek was and he grasped him feeling his gloved fingers dig deeply into his heated skin before one slid up to the back of his head to grab his hair and tilt his head back as he pulled Otabek’s unresisting body into his. Their familiarity with each other’s bodies made the rest too easy. 

Yuri quickly licked the column of his throat, tasting the salt and heat to register the rapid pulse where it was closest to the skin. The last of his wrecked control evaporated as the effort to not tear the skin in haste made him gently slide his fangs in deeply. He sealed his mouth over the spot in preparation for the hot rush of blood as Otabek’s groan vibrated against him. He slid his fangs out just a bit further to keep the wound open and tried to focus on something so he wouldn't be swept away.

The blood was molten energy in his mouth and down his throat where it exploded in a blast that shot strength, healing, and power straight into every cell of his body. Too quickly, the flow slowed as the wolf’s supernatural healing took over. It hadn’t been nearly enough Yuri knew, and slipped fangs in again in a savage thrust that tore more deeply that before. Otabek cried out, clutching him tightly and Yuri only only half-registered the thud of the knife hitting the ground as the shorter man slid a leg between his and pressed _in_. Hard. A bolt of purely sexual desire knocked blood-lust off trajectory in Yuri’s body and he pressed back with a groan as his mouth left Otabek’s throat and he opened his eyes. Otabek pressed against him like he wanted to crawl inside.

The pain was gone from the skin, but his vision was still off. Sparks of light pricked through enough that he could tell his vision was returning but everything was so damn bright in the lingering twilight that it hurt. He closed his eyes again as other needs reasserted. Otabek- freed as Yuri lifted his head- slid desperate fingers into his hair pulling their faces together as he licked his way into Yuri’s mouth. The taste of blood exploded in his mouth again and Yuri pulled back only to be tugged back by his braided hair for another kiss followed by Otabek’s shoving his cheek into Yuri’s face and rubbing all the way to his ear. This was repeated on the other side and then he was back to Yuri’s mouth, kissing and biting gently at his lips. Yuri reciprocated- kissing back and not delicately. Otabek healed quickly from the nicks his fangs left. Yuri did as well from the press of the werewolf’s open-mouthed kisses as they pressed his own lips against the sharp edges of his fangs. 

Neither minded the taste of the other’s blood.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things move on to another level.  
> You could write a book about what these two don't know about interspecies relationships. It's been like watching a wreck happen in slow motion- even if I know that they're going to survive (and thrive).

Someone’s knees buckled first and they dropped to the forest floor together as a single unit, crushing their bodies together. They had danced around each other for months, carefully avoiding a moment like this while knowing that it was inevitable. There had been teasing, petting, and desperate frottage as they kissed. When someone’s need became too explicit the sudden dashes to take a shower had become increasingly common.

They were past all that now as Otabek’s hands stroked desperately at the bulge in the leather biker’s jeans Yuri wore. The leather was thick and buttery soft and apparently transmitted touch fairly well if Yuri’s groan of pleasure was any indication. Otabek guided Yuri’s hand between his own legs and groaned at the touch before he unzipped the leather jacket and began to work on the pants. Frantically getting in each other’s way they still managed to accomplish getting Yuri stripped to the waist and their cocks in each other’s hands.

Within moments they are grinding and sliding against each other as Otabek’s hands grip Yuri’s ass to hold him in position. Yuri’s left hand cups his jaw with fingers sliding around to his nape and his thumb resting over the pulse he can feel hammering in his chest and throat while the other rubs the line of his back sensually. The wolf wants to bite and claim but Otabek stubbornly pushes it back and settles for a couple of light nips along Yuri’s throat when they break so he can breathe. Yuri takes in air as well to give voice to the pleasures coursing through him. They are careening toward some destination that Otabek knows and Yuri doesn’t when Otabek’s fingers slide to the center and further intimacy as Yuri lowered his head to Otabek’s neck and licked.

The blonde went still and then twisted away from Otabek roughly. “нет!” Startled and not really registering what was happening, Otabek’s arms tightened and held on so that Yuri only managed to turn in his arms but not escape and wound up sitting on his thighs as he knelt. 

Yuri took another breath. “You have to let me go.”

Otabek swam a little further out of the lust. “Why? Do you not want to…”

Something like a sob escaped Yuri as he leaned back and craned around to look at Otabek. “You have no idea how bad I want to. It’s just…”

“Yura,”Otabek said slowly. “We don’t have to do _everything_ . We’re in the middle of the woods and turned on. We can help each other out because,” he shifted forward pressing his cock into Yuri’s sculpted ass, “neither of us is turned off by this and we’ve been heading this way for a while now. If you want to…”

Yuri pressed back and Otabek groaned. “I want to… like this. I don’t trust myself so close to your throat right now.”

Otabek guided them up and straddled Yuri’s legs. Their pants were low on their thighs and Yuri’s skin gleamed like marble in the low light. He pulled the Russian in close and moved his long braid aside to kiss the nape of his neck as his hand stole around to the front to grip him gently. Yuri released a deep groan and leaned back to rest his head on Otabek’s shoulder as his hands drifted back to embrace Otabek’s hips. Otabek’s hand moved in time with his hips as he stroked himself against the silky skin of Yuri’s lower back and felt the curve of it against his balls and upper thighs. His body heat was such that within moments the skin had warmed which improved things considerably. They moved together in synchrony until Yuri’s movements stuttered slightly and Otabek suspected he was close. Reaching around, the Kazak put his free hand in the middle of Yuri’s chest and held him close as he worked them both faster and harder. 

Setting his teeth against Yuri’s well-defined trapezius where it joined his neck, Otabek bit _down_ at the same time he stroked the closest nipple and heard Yuri’s hoarse shout as his body gave in to the orgasm. He knew he was growling but couldn’t bring himself to care as everything dissolved into a haze of red and gold lightning in his head as every nerve in his pelvis tried to melt and shove its way out through his cock. In the end all he could do was let go and hold on as his body fell out of his control.  
Shuddering through the last of his orgasm, Otabek laid his head against Yuri’s back pulling the Russian tight against him. The marks from his teeth were already gone although there was some blood on the skin and in his mouth. Yuri didn’t relax, though, and was shaking with tension as his hips jerked against the softening cock against him.

“What?” Otabek used the braid again to pull Yuri’s head around shocked to find agony on his face and his teeth clenched tightly as he hovered interminably at the peak of release.

Oh. _Oh._

“You need blood to finish, don’t you?” Rage shrank Otabek’s skin as Yuri gave a single nod- eyes closed.

With no hesitation, Otabek brought his arm up to Yuri’s mouth which remained stubbornly closed.He growled savagely as he used the braid he still clutched to snap Yuri’s head back sharply- which succeeded in shocking the Russian enough that his mouth fell open and Otabek was there, hooking his arm on the sharp fangs before rotating it in and felt Yuri’s lips close over the wounds. His forearm was gripped viciously and rotated before Yuri bit down hard right into the artery as his own orgasm finally began to overtake him. as Otabek stroked him through it. The last of the air in Yuri’s lungs came out as a groan of pleasure between swallows.

Otabek, drowsy from yet more blood loss slumped against Yuri’s back and muttered, “You should have told me, идиот.” He barely noticed when Yuri turned to embrace him, dragging him across his lap before burying his face in Otabek’s throat with a growl that was strangely reassuring as he drifted off to sleep.

~0~

The slide back into consciousness was a slow one. Otabek felt the movement of Yuri’s fingers in his hair. He was laid out on top of his jacket with his head propped on Yuri’s thigh he felt a sense of boneless relaxation. His pants were back on at least.  
Yuri wasn’t looking at him. In fact he was looking everywhere *except* him. 

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing.” The shell Yuri had retreated behind was tangible.

“Are you healed now?”

That got a single nod. “I’m fine now.”

“The tension singing off your body says that isn’t true.” 

“You don’t understand, Beka,” Yuri’s voice was hollow. “I nearly killed you. I lost control.”

“I’m pretty sure you can drain me until I pass out, but you’d have to rip my head off or shoot me with a silver bullet to do any lasting harm,” said Otabek dryly. “I’m the one that’s supposed to freak out and be riddled with guilt, not you. Quit doing my job for me.”

“Oh fuck you!” Yuri snapped as he smacked Otabek on the shoulder. “I’m serious.”

“Ow! So am I.” Otabek started to sit up then grunted and lay back again. He’d made a warm spot on Yuri’s leg, he noticed as he settled in again. “I need a few more minutes.”

“See!!” Yuri’s tone was grimly triumphant and full of “I told you so”. “I think I almost killed you. The only thing that stopped me was when your heart began to slow down, I think some part of me noticed and made me stop.”

“How are your eyes, by the way?”

“Fine.”

“I think you’re going to have to work on that daylight protection. If you’re planning on using that to run during daylight you’d be blind before you got out of the back yard.”

“I know. Quit trying to change the subject.”

“You can’t do this you know,” Otabek was struggling to not let his irritation show. “I’m as much a part of the relationship as you are and… you can’t make all these decisions for both of us.”

“When it comes to drinking your blood, I will make all the decisions on that. I won’t lose you, Beka.”

Something snapped inside Otabek and he could hear the growl in his voice as he said. “The worst happened. You were hurt and blinded. What happened was instinct and if I recall, it was me not giving you a choice about taking my blood the first time.”  
Yuri drew a breath to argue and Otabek cut him off.

“Then we picked that moment to act on something that’s been between us since before either of us changed. Neither of us came with a rule book on this. I could have transformed and hurt you as well- did you think about that? I was half distracted by making sure I didn’t do that so that maybe I didn’t protect myself as well as I could, either.”

“Tch. That’s irrelevant.”

“You sound just like Victor now, Yura, and sixty years from now I don’t want to be on the other side of the world still pissed off at you because you wouldn’t listen. He’s not your relationship. I am.“

*silence*

“Damn it, Yuri, will you stop being so stubborn about this?”

“I’m not being stubborn. I’m trying to keep you safe.”

Otabek sat up and then stood. He felt a little fatigued but nothing worse than the morning after a full moon. He was hungry, though, really hungry. The wildlife around them was beginning to call to him in other ways. He turned his head and scented the air as he sensed more than saw Yuri stand and walk a short distance into the woods. 

He was done with the drama.

“Pilsetsky.”

“What?”

“The cabin is about six kilometers ahead on the left. Look for the name ‘Rotkäppchen’ on the marker. The entire basement is light-tight. The door entry code is 9653. I’m going to shift and go hunt. I’m starving.”

“Altin.”

“What?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to get in? It’s a residence.”

“The door… shit.” Otabek grabbed his shirt and jacket off the ground and shook them before putting them on. He picked up Yuri’s helmet and threw it at him, ignoring the muttered profanity that followed the sound of it being caught. “Come on.” He could feel the eye-roll without looking back.

Otabek reached under the front tire fender and removed something, tossing it into the woods.

“What’s that?”

“GPS tracker. Victor’s not as clever as he thinks.”

“There’s probably another one. He’s lulled you into a false sense of security with the airhead act if you think that is the only one.”

“How do you know?”

“Duh. Victor owns at least two of everything he thinks is important. I live with him.”

“Do you mind looking? In this light your sight’s better than mine if you’re healed up enough.” Otabek rubbed a hand across his jaw as he looked at the bike. “Any ideas? It’ll need to be near wiring or there will be a battery pack.”

Yuri hunkered down by the bike and looked around for a minute then asked “Black box the size of a cigarette lighter?”

“Tug gently,” Otabek said from the opposite side of the bike. “If it was added it should come off pretty easily.”

“It did.”

Otabek took it and tossed it after the other one. “I guess we should turn off our phones, too. I promised to keep the location confidential.”

“What about me?”

“They consider you my mate, Yura. Those rules don’t apply to you.” 

There was a long silence after that.

"My phone please." Otabek held out his hand for his phone without really looking at Yuri. He was fatigued and hungry. The wolf was urging him to just give up on the present drama, hunt, and go sleep it off somewhere warm and dry. The phone landed solidly in his hand and he checked his messages. There was one from Yuuri saying that he and Victor were talking after an initially difficult start. Otabek supposed that being alive to type the message was good enough news. He heard the clicking of Yuri’s typing as he answered a message also.

After turning off his phone and watching a conspicuously silent Yuri turn his off, Otabek straddled the bike and started it. As he buckled on his helmet Yuri slipped in behind him and tried to shove back on the seat to hold on to the seat in front of him like he had the first time Otabek picked him up in Barcelona. The last growth spurt had taken care of that and there was just too much of him so he settled for putting his hands on Otabek’s shoulders. 

Carefully guiding the motorcycle out of the woods, Otabek turned them east again. 

By the third kilometer Yuri’s hands slid down and wound around his boyfriend’s ribs. Otabek took a breath and patted Yuri's hand before putting it back on the handlebar. 

Some of the tension seeped out of them both as the motorcycle sped through the night.

~0~

By the turn off they were practically one unit on the bike again. Otabek savored the sensations of Yuri up close to him as they navigate the drive to the house well off the road. It was rustic with wide porches and comfortable looking chairs with views of the woods. He figured they’d work it out once they both had a chance to get past their respective traumas- and he got something to eat. 

“It’s a dacha,” Yuri said as soon as he had his helmet off.

“They call it a hunting lodge,” Otabek said. “There are few of these around Europe that we- the wolves- go to. 

They went up the steps together. Otabek opened the door and stepped in, reaching for Yuri’s hand as he said. “Come in.” Yuri stepped in and blew out a breath Otabek hadn’t heard him take muttering "Awkward as fuck..."

Otabek didn't comment on that. “It’s just us. Nobody is coming up here until next week. There’s a lower level that’s light tight, but we still need to check it.”

“I know. Is there food here for you?”

“Yeah, Minami was going to drop something off for me today. I got Yuuri’s autograph for him this morning and we’re all meeting for coffee next week when he’s out of school.”

Yuri perked up and headed to the kitchen. “I’ll cook. It’s the least I can do unless you want to go hunt something up outside.”

“If you’re cooking, I’ll stay in.” Otabek was taking off his boots as he listened to Yuri open what sounded like every cabinet door and drawer in the kitchen. There was a pause after he heard the refrigerator open.

“Altin, why is there blood in the refrigerator?”

“I might have mentioned to Minami that I was planning on bringing you up here with me if things didn’t go well with Victor today. Please tell me that there is food there too.”

“Yeah, there’s food. You’re having eggs and I think this is steak...”

Twenty minutes later Yuri had shed his jacket to cook and brought a mug of warmed blood to the table to keep Otabek company as he ate. The sound system was on and they were listening to a jazz CD someone had left in the player. It was low key and took the pressure to talk about what had happened off some. 

Afterward they were washing up the dishes standing together in the kitchen. Otabek was drying and they were close enough that they brushed against each other as they worked. 

“You any better about it?” Otabek asked quietly.

“No.”

“I’m not either, really,” Otabek said as he dried Yuri’s mug and put it away. “The worst part was trying to find somewhere to get off the road when you were hurt. I was frantic. You were injured and not letting me help.”

“Beka…” Yuri started quietly.

“No, let me say it, Yura. You took the blood you needed to heal. I wasn’t strong enough to keep us from having crisis sex after that and I had no idea that taking blood is a necessary thing for you with sex. I figured that the times when you left when things got hot between us- was you were being as shy as I was. I refuse to give up and I am not letting you turn this into something that really is going to ruin us. I’m fine. I’ll stay fine. “

“You don’t know that.”

“You don’t _not_ know that.”

“Altin, you are so stubborn.”

“Yura, you’re so cute when you’re mad.”

“Fuck off you…”

Yuri’s tirade was cut off by a startled yelp as Otabek (and the wolf) decided it was time to retreat to their den and tossed Yuri over his shoulder. He squirmed initially but by the time they reached the stairs, Yuri was suspiciously quiet. Otabek knew he was waiting on an opportunity to retaliate and didn’t want a fight so he set him down by the stairs. 

“Let’s go check out where you’re sleeping.”

"What do you mean where *I'm* sleeping, Beka?" Yuri started down the stairs. "There's no way I'm staying in werewolf central unless you're staying with me, got it?"

Otabek smiled and looked up toward the heavens as he listened to the profanity-laced griping moving away from him. 

They were going to be all right- eventually. He was certain of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this has been like watching a wreck happen in slow motion- even if I know that they're going to survive (and thrive). I apologize for the awkward. I am apparently built to write drama but not sex. Part of me wanted to dive deep into porn. The fact that they're both wearing leathers with boots that reach up to their knees and the nearest lubricant is *kilometers* away. I can't suspend reality enough to make spit a viable solution when I've got it stretched pretty thin already considering I'm writing about vampires and werewolves. 
> 
> Thanks for all who commented, though- you have all made me smile and warmed my cold, cold heart. <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thirty years later Yuri and Otabek navigate one of the tragedies of life...

Mila called Otabek, catching him just after noon as he lay beside a still-slumbering Yuri trying to decide if he wanted more sleep or a cup of coffee. Seeing it was Mila, he silenced the phone and stepped out in the hall to answer it with a growing sense of dread. “Hello?” Mila got right to the point as he sped down the stairs to the kitchen and started the kettle. The news was tragic but not unexpected.

“I can’t tell him this, Otabek- I just can’t.” She was in tears and sobbed quietly. “You have to hurry.”

“Tell him hold on. We’re coming. Call Yaskov if you haven’t already. I’ll text you our arrival time.”

Otabek made two short calls and was just standing up to go wake Yuri when one of the cats dashed into the kitchen followed by Yuri who was finger-combing his hair in an attempt to get it out of his face. Yuri stopped short in the doorway as he caught sight of Otabek.

“Beka, what’s wrong? Your heart’s going too fast and you- he sniffed the air delicately- smell like Katsuki used to when he was anxious.”

Otabek studied the phone in his hand like it would give him an easy solution to a difficult task. “Mila called. Nikolai had another stroke. Things don’t look good.”

Yuri’s eyes flashed over to the clock on the microwave. It was almost one in the afternoon. Predictably grief fed his anger. The old frame on the door cracked when Yuri’s fist struck it.

“Damn it!! The fucking sun’s still up.”

“Yura,” Otabek’s voice was calm as he approached his mate slowly. Yuri wouldn’t kill him but that didn’t mean that him lashing out wouldn’t hurt. “Transportation’s being arranged. We’ll get you there as soon as we can. Minami’s going to meet us at the airport and you’re going as a medical patient to their facility in Moscow. Right now, we need to talk to Victor and Yuuri, then we need to pack.” 

It had been almost thirty years since Nikolai had taken in the cold still body of his grandson and housed it until Yuri woke and recovered fully from his first death. He’d lived well into his 90s thanks to Minami’s medical attention coupled with a few spells from Mila. 

Yuri and Otabek had offered to move him in with them after they’d worked things out in Germany early on in their relationship. The old man had declined the offer graciously. Yuri, in an act of reckless desperation, had offered to turn him not long after the first serious health scare and been met with such a look of disappointment that his soul had shriveled with shame. 

“Yurochka, please,” said Nikolai as he held his grandson’s desperate gaze with love and understanding, “I am an old man and I am going to die like old men will. There is a place in the cemetery next to my wife that I will occupy, and our souls will be joined at last. Don’t be so selfish to keep me here when the love of my life is elsewhere. I love you but you have found your great love and I wish to find mine again when my life ends.” The old eyes had shifted to Otabek’s as he sat beside his mate. Their unspoken agreement was sealed and Otabek knew Nikolai could trust that he had passed the torch. 

One look at Yuri’s face after that conversation had Otabek hustling him out of the house to find an isolated area where he could explode out of earshot and without fear of discovery. In the end they sat in the woods as tears dripped from Yuri’s chin and he sobbed bitterly on Otabek’s shoulder. Later, he’d pieced together was that it wasn’t the refusal that troubled Yuri so much as the dark view of an inevitable future in which he’d lost his first and best source of unconditional love. 

That realization had shaken Yuri so much he stayed glued to Otabek’s side for a long time after that until Nikolai’s health improved and the sense of immediate danger retreated some- even going to the lodge on full moon nights to wait out Otabek’s transformations. It had been claustrophobic and invasive of his much-needed solitude but Otabek endured for the sake of love and gently suggested that Yuri go back to counseling because the future wasn’t going to get any easier. The pack hadn’t minded and been surprisingly supportive of his mate as they treated him like they would any passionate adolescent.

Lost in thought, Otabek jumped when his phone rang with Minami’s call. He heated some blood and poured a larger than usual amount it into a mug. Surprisingly Yuri didn’t even argue. He had dressed in his light-proof garments, thrown a few things in a backpack that Otabek would carry and was pacing in the living room. 

Ninety minutes later Otabek’s motorcycle pulled up to an office in front of a private air ambulance company hangar. Yuri stepped off of the bike and waited until Otabek dismounted then clung to his arm as he was led in. They had fixed most of the light shielding issue with the helmet but when he was with someone he trusted Yuri usually didn’t crack the inner shielding. Some light always did get in which always messed with his vision. Minami met them in the light tight room that vampire passengers used with their passports and the plan. Yuri was hurriedly placed in disguising and light-proof bandages, secured on a stretcher, and loaded on the plane with Otabek trotting beside it as worried next of kin with their things. Minami and another wolf from their institute would ride with them as medical support.

The plane ride was just over two hours and even in the protective environment of a fuselage with no windows Otabek felt like he could feel the vampire-killing rays of the sun. He sat in the jump seat adjacent to the stretcher and leaned over to slide a hand under the covers to grip Yuri’s hand. The gloved hand gripped him so tightly he gave a soft exclamation and he felt it relax as a muffled “sorry” floated up from beneath the blankets. 

The rest of the trip was uneventful although they lost time circling the smaller airport outside Moscow that was closest to Nikolai’s house. An ambulance met them, and they were whisked away with a minimum of fuss owed largely to the reeking packet that Minami put between Yuri’s ankles on the stretcher. Yuri didn’t have to breathe but the werewolves all had tears in their eyes by the time they cleared the gamut of officials. They were second beyond the gate when Minami rebagged the source of the stench and they all waited anxiously for the stench to dissipate. 

It was early evening but nowhere near dark when the ambulance pulled into a parking lot and the back doors opened to reveal a young woman who was almost a mirror image of Mila from decades ago. “Mila said hurry,” she said before handing Otabek some keys and indicating a motorcycle parked near the building.

The tension in Yuri’s body increased with every minute of the drive toward his grandfather’s. Otabek could feel some movement behind him and knew he’d cracked open the shielding in his visor on to take in the sights of his old hometown. The motorcycle hadn’t completely stopped in front of the modest home with its neat garden and Yuri was off the bike and sprinting toward the house so fast he was nothing but a blur of motion. Mila had the door opened and he blew past her before Otabek even turned off the engine. Climbing off and shouldering the backpack, Otabek trudged up the steps. “So?” he asked Mila as he hugged her at the door.

“He waited,” she whispered in his ear as she hugged him and patted his back. “There’s blood in the refrigerator and some food for you.” She patted his shoulder and left. 

Removing his coat and gloves, Otabek climbed the stairs to find his mate.

They sat for hours as the sun set and the sounds of the neighborhood quieted. Nikolai wasn’t conscious and lay peacefully in the bed, covered up to his neck against the chill of Russia’s late spring. Yuri sat as still as a statue aside from the occasional blink of his eyes. Otabek would occasionally get up and go freshen the small cloth Mila had left so that Yuri could carefully dampen Nikolai’s lips. Yuri would take the cloth and tend to his grandfather and kiss his forehead muttering “I love you, grandpa” in a voice so soft Otabek would have sworn Yuri incapable of it as tears streamed down his face. Otabek’s own eyes stung with unshed tears at the heartbreak he heard in Yuri’s voice. At one point, Otabek turned on the small lamp in the corner. “I don’t need that,” hissed Yuri with no real venom in his voice.

“I know,” Otabek said quietly, “He might though.”

Sometime after one am Nikolai stirred with a small grimace, pushing off the covers with the hand closest to them. Yuri caught his hand quickly as the old man’s eyes opened and said “I’m here, Grandpa. I came.” The gaze in the old eyes sharpened briefly as he squeezed Yuri’s hand. Otabek moved behind Yuri and placed a hand on his mate’s back as his own slid over Yuri’s to add his grasp to his mate’s. Nikolai’s gaze roamed over them both for a moment until his eyes shuttered and closed. A single tear sparkled at the edge of his eye but never fell. 

More hours passed. Yuri refused the packed blood from the backpack as he sat quietly in a chair by the bed holding his grandfather’s hand. Dawn was approaching when they both heard the subtle shift in Nikolai’s breathing and heartbeat. Otabek watched as the breathing slowed and stopped. The pulse in the old man’s throat beat on for a minute more until it stopped. After that there was only Otabek’s heart and breathing along with the few sounds of a waking world outside.

Yuri stood suddenly. “Open the window.”

“What? It’s daylight out there.”

“Do it Beka, or I’ll have to. His soul is lingering, and it needs to go.”

“How… Never mind, get your helmet on.”

Yuri pulled up the balaclava and grabbed the helmet as Otabek moved to the window and pulled aside the curtains and shutters. 

The window slid up easily and Otabek stood to the side to let the soul pass. He took a deep breath of the fresh morning air and looked at the melting snow as winter released its grip on the land. Yuri hovered in the darkened recesses of the room, back to the window. Within moments a sense of oppressiveness he hadn’t felt lightened and then vanished completely.

“It’s all right now. He’s gone.” Yuri’s voice was muffled in the helmet.

Closing everything back up to a safe level of darkness for Yura, he walked over and wrapped his arms around his mate. “Do you want some time alone here?”

“No… I want you here with me. Please.”

“All right.” Otabek just held him.

Mila arrived not long after with an open bottle of vodka and three glasses. It was obvious she’d toasted Nikolai privately prior to arriving. With Yura in Germany she’d all but adopted the old man as a surrogate grandfather and looked after him ferociously along with updating his grandson on how he was faring a few times per week. Yuri often showed Otabek her videos of the old man as he went about his business in the house, reading or tending the small garden that his grandmother had loved.   
Mila poured two shots and produced a sharp knife to open a vein- filling the last shot glass. With a murmured word she touched the wound and carried all three glasses over to where they stood by the bed. Yuri sniffed suspiciously at the blood as Mila raised her glass with no mark at all on her arm.

“To Nikolai,” she said and tipped her glass down her throat in a single smooth motion.

“To Nikolai,” echoed Otabek and Yuri tipping their glasses back. Yuri coughed and grimaced. “There’s a lot of alcohol in that,” he rasped.

“Exactly,” Mila said briskly as she handed Otabek the bottle. “You get drunk. Then you get _him_ drunk and the pair of you sleep it off while I get things arranged. Lock the door to your room- I don’t want someone wandering in by accident.”

She turned to Yuri. “I love you, Yura. You’re family. Nikolai left me this house in his will, and it will always be yours so long as my family lives. Your room will always be kept in readiness for you for when you need to come home.” She put her arms around Yuri’s neck and hugged him tightly. After a moment he hugged her back and whispered “Thank you, Baba.” When she pulled back, she patted his shoulders and straightened his collar before wiping her eyes and striding briskly for the door. Yuri wiped his eyes also and Otabek might have looked away to hide the shimmer in his eyes as well.

After she left, Otabek stood back and took a long pull from the bottle as Yura sat on the edge of the bed and took his grandfather’s hand. The phone vibrated in Otabek’s hand and there were messages from Victor, Katsuki, Yakov, Lilia, and Christophe already.

“My hands are still colder than his,” said Yuri brokenly and began to cry. There was nothing for Otabek to do except go kneel beside him, slide an arm around his waist, and hold on tightly as Yuri wept for the closest of his human losses. After a while, Yuri stopped and took a deep breath as he wiped the tears off of his face. “I’m done here,” he said as he stood and headed toward the door then stopped with a hiss at the bright line of light at the base of the door. Moving quickly, Otabek grabbed his jacket from the floor by the door and handed Yuri his gloves. Wrapping his own jacket around Yura’s face as he opened the door and guided Yuri toward the brighter end of the hall where his old room was. Pushing Yuri inside out of the sun he called down to Mila that they were done. 

~0~

Otabek was grateful that he no capable of hangovers given how wrecked Mila looked when she knocked on Yuri’s door to let them know that Nikolai’s body was returned for the wake. Yuri sat stoically by the casket as next of kin, not caring if anyone made the connection to who he had been or not. He wouldn’t be back before all the living humans in the room died anyway. He broke down when there was a flurry of activity at the door and Yakov, Lilia, Victor, and Yuuri all walked in. Yuuri sidled over to Otabek and looked him over as Yuri was traded among Yakov, Lilia, and finally Victor who held him tightly as he sobbed out bits of himself on the impeccable suit. 

“You look like hell.”

“I’ll live.”

“That is the point of things these days, isn’t it?” Yuri mused. “We’ll all go on. You and I are going to have our turn with this, though,” he sighed, “My parents retired last year and are thoroughly enjoying watching Mari and her partner run the inn. How are your parents?”

Otabek looked over. “Older, my father’s diabetic now and mother needs cataract surgery. My sisters look after them and they are knee deep in grandchildren now. They even named one for Yuri. All the kids call their uncle Yuri “Simba” now because of the golden mane of hair and the fangs.”

Yuuri nodded. “He’s going to be ok, you know.”

“I do. This is the hard part for him now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This started as a series of snapshots of their evolving relationship and kinda took on a life of its own.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For their 50th anniversary, Otabek has a surprise for Yuri. Of course Yuri never reacts according to plan.

Fifty years to the day after they met again, the quiet collusion between Katsuki and Altin to get Victor out of the house had gone off without a hitch. 

~0~

Otabek’s timely move into the CGI and sound effect aspects of the entertainment industry a few decades earlier had been a stroke of genius for the supernatural community. What had started as a natural outgrowth of his work as a DJ had evolved into a stunningly lucrative business that employed members of the supernatural community around the globe in all aspects of the job including security. 

Otabek and Yuri had their own apartment in the heart of Berlin near where Yuuri’s old apartment had been but lived at Victor’s house most of the time. They had offered to move out when Yuuri moved in on a full-time basis, but Victor wouldn’t hear of it. Over the decades the house had been gently remodeled to include a more modern kitchen with shelves that Otabek could reach and a huge kitchen table (considering how few people consumed food there) that rapidly became a meeting place for friends and family. Above that, an entertainment room complete with the latest electronic toys for viewing and gaming became Yuri’s domain as much as the library was Victor’s.

Yuri, in spite of his semi-vigorous protests on the utility of post-secondary education, had studied economics at the University of Munich with an emphasis on world economy. The subsequent master’s degree had come as a complete surprise to everyone and for the next two years Victor had taken to telling anyone that would listen that his prodigy had “grown up at last”. This never failed to piss Yuri off and he’d quietly finished a PhD in the US when Otabek’s work took him there for a few years. After they got back he’d framed the diploma and hung it in the kitchen across from where Victor usually sat. 

It had been a good thing that Victor didn’t need to actually _breathe_ because he choked on the mouthful of blood he was swallowing when he saw the diploma. Yuuri, with a long-suffering sigh, had gotten up to get paper towels to clean up the splatters. Otabek had seen the choke coming and grabbed his breakfast off the table from where he sat across from Yuuri to move safely out of the splatter zone. 

The perpetrator had watched from the door to the kitchen with a knowing smirk.

The PhD had caused a couple of headaches for Yuri since his dissertation had attracted some flattering but unwelcome attention in economic circles which he had quashed by cashing in the eccentric genius card and telling all comers to fuck off before hightailing it back to Russia for a visit with Mila’s extended family. Beka welcomed his company at work and was glad to leave his increasingly complex business dealings to Yuri. He wanted to innovate and create. Yuri applied his Russian pragmatism and controlling nature to the economic side of things. Even Victor had eventually invested a shocking amount of money.

“It’s your fault, you know,” Yuri would tell Victor when taken to task over the attention his dissertation had garnered, “I just wrote about what I’ve been watching you do for decades. Who knew an old man would have such modern ideas about global economies?” Victor had preened and laid off further complaints. They could wait these things out. It was one of the burdens and gifts of their immortality. 

Yuuri, in his soothing and unobtrusive way, had smoothed things over by moving the diploma to a place of honor in the front hallway-complete with a picture light to highlight it. 

~0~

“Player on,” Otabek said as he crawled on to the leather sofa in the entertainment room and held Yuri’s thermal mug as he settled in to lie against him and pull a throw over them both. Yuri put a hand up for his mug and then twisted a little to look over his shoulder at his partner. Otabek smiled enigmatically before sliding his legs around Yuri’s hips to cover his thighs. “Mmmmm….” hummed Yuri as he leaned back,” My own personal space heater.” Otabek chuckled.

“Don’t think you’re getting away with this, Beka. You’ve been in an odd mood since you woke up,” Yuri complained as he took a long pull of the contents through the straw, “What is going on with you? The full moon was last week.”

“It’s our anniversary tomorrow. Fifty years together. Part of me thinks we should be old men telling tales of lost glories on the ice,” Otabek picked up a blonde lock of hair that had escaped from the hair tie and stroked it gently between his fingers. “To mark the occasion… I’ve had a project in the works for about a year and I want you to see it.”

Turning his head, Yuri gave Otabek a speculative side-eye. “Bekaaaa… did you write me a song?”

“Just shut up and watch,” Otabek said quietly as his mate huffed and settled himself more comfortably against his warmth. Then he said “Play.”

_  
The first frames are obviously from a mobile phone with a very amateur photographer. The rink is dim except for the lights over the ice which are on full. Yakov always insisted that the lights be on full so that his skaters would be less dazzled by the reflection on the ice at competitions. A figure glides on to the ice, a sylph of a teen really- all fast twitch fibers, adrenaline, and attitude wearing a dark pair of pants and short sleeved black top as he glides in lazy circles rotating his neck with his hands on his hips before skating backwards to the center of the ring and standing to glare off to the side at nothing but darkness._

_Hip cocked aggressively._

_Vibrating with intensity._

_Waiting._

_Not patiently._

_The boy scans the arena and the bright lights highlight the single finger he flashes at the photographer. Beneath the mop of blonde hair his smile is animated, private, and slightly savage. The photographer zooms in on the skater focusing badly on the face that snaps to attention at the side of the rink._

_Yakov’s voice rises and falls in his trademark bellow as he barks instructions in Russian. The skater's arms wrap around his torso to contain his body heat as he bends a knee, digging a toe pick into the ice as he listens._

_He settles to quietude, arms at his side and head bowed to the side. Still. Calm. His shoulders rise and fall with a breath and as the music starts his arm and head rise slowly. He begins to skate._

_The video fades and another empty rink appears._

_It is the same rink, done in different shades and tones. The lights are even brighter and lack the warmth of the old incandescent bulbs. Otabek skated out to the center and stood there, hands on hips speaking to someone out of frame._

_The lights came up a little as a blonde skater clad in a dark turtleneck, gloves, and snug skating pants glides on to the ice to skate a slow predatory circle around Otabek before catching him up in his arms from behind. Turning in the embrace Otabek hugs him tightly. In their embrace the blonde slowly bends Otabek back in his arms with a kiss that speaks of old intimacies and dark promises._

_They part and Otabek skates backwards with his palms pressed together._

_Otabek’s voice is clear over the hiss of his skates as he skates back toward the gap in the wall along with the words “For me, all the way through, just once. I fell in love with you watching you skate this.”_

_The skater barks a laugh and spoke “You’re a sneaky fuck and you are such a sappy romantic…” The camera zoomed in on Yuri. Perfectly rendered down to the fierce look of a die-hard competitor in the piercing green eyes and trademark smirk he got on the ice when he was going to kick everyone’s ass and take the gold._

_Pulling back, the camera centers on the lone blonde skater once more. Taller and at that delicious age of androgyny on the cusp of a bulkier manhood that is pushing legs longer and shoulders wider but maintaining a flexible, feline grace._

_The blonde hair in a long and elegantly asymmetrical hime cut hides the skaters face as he looks down. The longer parts are caught up in an artfully haphazard bun at the back of his head. Preparing, he pushes off and skates a slow circle around the center of the ice as he rotates his neck and shoulders. The skater moves faster this time. Otabek appears at the edge of the wall to prop his elbows and watch._

_There is a murmur of a voice in the background darkness. There must have been something funny because the skater’s head rocks back in a genuine laugh to reveal his face once again. Green eyes blaze with merriment as he bares his fangs at something in the darkness before he settles and glances up at the photographer this time. The camera zooms expertly to catch his face once again as he bows his head and waits for the music then zooms away to show him waiting._

_Patient._

_An experienced predator revealed in every line of his body._

_He casts no shadow on the ice._

_The strains of On Love: Agape sounded and as his head and left arm lifted in a move of impossible grace and beauty, the performance began._

Yuri had gone absolutely rigid at first sight of the blonde skater. Slowly he sat up and leaned forward with rapt attention, never moving his eyes from the screen. Otabek grabbed the mug before it could drop from his nerveless fingers and set it aside carefully. He sat up slowly, keeping his legs round Yuri as he slipped his arms around him pulling him tight to his body.

The skating Yuri was mesmerizing as always. Otabek felt the stinging in his eyes as he remembered the first time he’d seen it and watched Yuri instead to see his reaction. 

For the full two minutes and forty seconds Yuri watched so intently that Otabek’s heart wanted to stop from sheer proximity. At the end of the performance, the skater stopped and looked off-rink toward Otabek with a heart-breaking but joyous smile on his face as the camera zoomed in once again this time freezing on his face before fading to a dim still of his beautiful and triumphant face.

The silence stretched out. 

From his view of Yuri’s profile Otabek watched his eyes fill and then overflow with tears. He blinked, surprised at their appearance and then launched himself off the sofa toward the viewer only to stop short and spin toward his partner. His arms were wrapped around his lower chest like he was trying to hold himself together.

“You!!... How did you do that? Is that what I really look like? Fuck!! Did you know this was going to completely unravel me?” Yuri was raging- whether it was excitement or anger remained to be seen.

Otabek stared up calmly at Yuri, one corner of his mouth turned up in the most indulgent of smiles until Yuri dropped slowly to his knees with his hands over his face shaking with silent sobs.

“Yura… Yura, please…” Otabek shot off the sofa and gathered the shaking vampire in his arms. Lifting him up to carry him to the couch, murmuring to him in Russian trying to get him to calm down. After a brief check to be sure no cat had claimed the warm spot, he sat again with Yuri in his lap. 

He rubbed slow circles on his shaking mate’s back. “This is not what I was expecting.” 

Gradually the sobs and shaking subsided into stillness and Yuri sat up wiping his eyes with the heels of his hands and drying them on his dark sweats. 

“That was messy,” he said with a wet chuckle. “It’s a good thing my heart doesn’t beat because it would have stopped.”

“What on earth happened?” Otabek slid closer to embrace Yuri, needing the reassurance of touch.

“I think,” Yuri hesitated as he searched for words, “I think that when I became _this_ , part of the adaptation was getting used to not being able to see myself ever again. It’s huge at first and a constant reminder of that loss of the person you were as a human, you know?”

Otabek- completely wrapped around Yuri- nodded but said nothing.

“In never expected to see that. I mean, I know we use body doubles for passport photos and such and they look like me but they aren’t me except in a coincidental sense. That,” Yuri gestured to the frozen image of himself on the screen, “is me in the moment with emotion and I have memories of what that felt like as I watched that on the screen. I… never expected to feel tied to an image like that again.”

Yuri’s hand patted Otabek’s arm. “I’m fine Beka. Really.”

Unwrapping himself from his mate, Otabek sighed, “I thought I understood what it might mean. I guess I underestimated…”

Cold hands grabbed him as Yuri turned and held his face. “Beka, no. Don’t you dare feel guilty about this.” Otabek watched the bright green eyes vanish as Yuri leaned in to kiss him gently before pressing their foreheads together. “This was perfect.”  
They stayed like that for a while until Yuri stirred and rested his head on Otabek’s shoulder and nuzzled. 

“You smell good.”

“You know Katsuki’s rule about biting on the leather furniture.”

“Fuck. Yeah. He’d kill me again. "Gimme…” Yuri made a grabbie hand at the thermal cup still perched on the side table. Otabek handed it over and dug in his pocket for his phone. He opened the camera and snapped a quick selfie. He waited for the CGI function to finish before turning it to show Yuri. 

The candid shot showed a satisfied Otabek with his mate curled into his chest, sipping his drink. Vivid green eyes watched the camera with the trademark smirk in place around the straw. 

Otabek showed Yuri the photo. “Our first selfie. Who do you want to send it to?”

“You got that technology on a phone,and never told me?” Yuri was stunned. “Shit. My hair’s a wreck."

Otabek laughed and sent the photo to Phichit, Minami, Katsuki, and Victor.

~0~

Yuri insisted on watching it four more times. Eyes shining in wonder at the screen.

"So how did you manage to get images, not to mention _video_ recording of us?" Yuri sat up and turned to face Otabek. "Victor's going to want a feature-length film of himself after this, you know."

Otabek rubbed the back of his neck. "You remember that work the company did with the targeting systems using sonar and high speed radar receptors? It's the next step beyond that. It picks up the returned sound waves and the CGI does the rest. Once the computer has done enough of your images with color corrections done by an artist, the AI takes over and marries the CGI to the motion."

"That's why I don't have a shadow. No mass to reflect back."

"Yeah, the flashes off the blades don't show up either."

"Where did you hide the money? I'd have noticed a project this big."

"I really don't want to answer that..."

"And you want to spend our fiftieth anniversary in awkward, celibate, and uncomfortable silence? Beka..."

"Ok, ok. You know that project for mapping deep earth that's run over budget? This is the over budget."

"You know I was going to suggest that if it didn't turn a profit next quarter that you shut it down. In fact, if it took you over four million dollars to produce this, you probably shouldn't...mfff..." Yuri's comments were cut off by a pair of warm lips as Otabek kissed him and muttered "Shut up about work." Gathering Yuri in his arms without breaking the kiss he carried him to the door that connected to the upper hallway and their room. There was going to be biting and Otabek wasn't inclined to feel the weight of all the things he could feel Yuuri not saying if they got blood on the leather.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day. Been working on them for a minute and finally decided to Just Get Them Done Already.  
> One more coming to tie up loose ends- Yuuri's immortal now but what flavor is he?  
> Thank you for reading so far.  
> Thanks again to iguanastevens who wrote a story that I just had to write more of.  
> ***  
> Well I went and posted it without explaining my ideas about how a sound hound like Otabek (no pun intended) used sound to create images in a marriage of sonography and CGI if you consider how far computational creation could get in the next four decades. Just slid that in.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So... Yuuri... has some decisions to make. Otabek and Minami are there to help. All is not quite forgiven between Victor and Otabek.  
> This started out with two paragraphs... I seem destined not to write less than 2000 words in a chapter any more and the chapter count rises again because there's more on deck.

Asking Minami to meet with Yuuri hadn’t been as awkward as Otabek anticipated. A few weeks after what was being referred to as “the disagreement” Yuuri had been endearingly sincere about approaching Otabek wanting to know more about wolves. He also stuck stubbornly to wanting Otabek’s help for information about werewolves over Victor’s attempts to “arrange something” in the larger community. Otabek counted it as a small victory and managed to hide any smugness behind his usual stoic look. There was some friction, though. He’d caught Victor’s cold and speculative stare a few times and knew that not quite all about that day had been forgiven. 

Out at the farm when Otabek made his request, Minami’s smile had been bright as he spontaneously hugged Otabek before dashing off his room to Skype his family the news- leaving Otabek in the lounge feeling a strange mix of tolerant sibling and ten kinds of awkward. Skating and ballet had enough overlap that Otabek had been familiar with Yuuri’s name but some judicious searching on the internet had brought up some videos and interviews that did nothing but reinforce Minami’s claims about his countryman. 

There had been a documentary about a “friendly” rivalry between Yuuri and a principal dancer at the Bolshoi that showed Yuuri preparing in the days up to a dance-off taking place in Russia. He routinely worked past the point other dancers were beginning to falter- every move crisp, controlled and precise demonstration of near-inhuman stamina. The meeting of the two dancers had been an absolute slaughter in which they were challenged to see who could perform the most fouettes. The Russian had all but collapsed at thirty-nine and Yuuri had kept going to a stunning fifty-two. He had stopped by settling into a perfect fifth position and then turning to his rival and bowing respectfully with a polite smile before turning and striding out of the room. Then someone noticed the blood on the floor from where he had worn through the ballet shoe and torn the skin of his foot. Otabek had shared that link with Victor who spent the next hour watching it again and again. 

Minami had been excited for days about meeting Yuuri in person and eager to share what he knew about Japanese pack culture and customs. It had also given Otabek the opportunity to ask some basic questions about pack culture that he hadn’t been comfortable asking for personally but could ask about for Yuuri’s sake. Minami was ecstatic to meet his favorite dancer and Yuuri had been gracious without a visible trace of his usual shyness. Like Yuuri’s friend Phichit, Minami was gregarious by nature and had a natural talent for putting people at ease. Otabek privately suspected that the reason that neither Phichit nor Yuuri had met a grisly end before Victor entered the picture was that they were both too sweetly guileless to kill.

They met at a twenty-four-hour coffee house near the Japanese consulate in Mitte, not too far from where Minami lived. In retrospect, Otabek realized that an outdoor café probably wasn’t the best idea since it was still cool out in the middle of April. Minami and Otabek were both wearing jackets while Yuuri was wearing full winter gear including gloves and looked like he was _freezing_ after sitting for ten minutes. The introductions- which Otabek hoped he got right introducing Minami to Yuuri since he was older in spite of the fact that Yuuri was the one seeking knowledge- hadn’t been too awkward from what he could tell. Otabek just watched as they bowed and worked out what they would call each other in rapid-fire Japanese until they realized that Otabek was there and both blushingly switched back to English and apologized.

Minami and Otabek both could hear the anxious hammering of Yuuri’s heart in spite of the professional face he maintained. A shared glance led to small talk and questions about Yuuri’s stay in Berlin and his project with Phichit that had put the human at ease. They made a good team. Wolves usually did.

After one cup of coffee Otabek excused himself and accepted the thanks of both men as he headed to work. They’d switched to Japanese before he’d taken three steps. Otabek had begun hanging around a few of the smaller Berlin dance clubs because he could lose himself in the music. He’d picked up a gig or two as a DJ and then found real work as a sound mixer for one of the local recording studios. He worked three days a week and had a few loyal clients that were glad to put up with his eccentricities in exchange for how good he made them sound. There was room in the field, and it paid far better than he’d anticipated. He had also begun thinking of it in terms of a business opportunity for the “other” community especially those with less than human appearances or restrictions around daylight work hours. 

~0~

Yuuri’s teeth were clenched to keep them from chattering when Minami suggested they walk for a while to warm up and he readily agreed. A few minutes later they stood in front of the Japanese embassy watching as a few other Japanese expats braved the cold to view the cherry blossoms behind the fence. One woman in traditional dress posed with a small child as her husband took pictures. Yuuri slid his own phone out and snapped a few photographs to send home to his parents, suddenly missing Hasetsu.

They talked of family. Yuuri’s eyes grew wide as Minami spoke of his family’s history as shrine guardians and warriors reaching as far back as the Muromachi Period. The Kenjirou clan had been the companions of gods and royalty for centuries.

“Okami,” Yuuri breathed.

Minami looked over at him and nodded. “Hai.” 

Yuuri’s eyes were huge and he felt the flush of embarrassment at having treated someone who’s family had been _worshiped_ in Japan in such a familiar fashion. Briefly he wondered if even a dogeza would be enough of an apology for his behavior. Minami watched him with a sympathetic smile for a moment before reaching out to gently grip Yuuri’s upper arm which derailed the budding anxiety attack.

“Want to come back to my apartment for a while so we can talk without you risking frostbite? We forget sometimes how sensitive to cold humans can be.” 

Yuuri took a calming breath and nodded. Maybe he could pull his thoughts together enough to ask all the other questions that had come to mind that weren’t on the two-page list in his pocket. 

Minami’s apartment was tiny, consisting of a kitchenette and enclosed bath at the front and a larger area on a raised platform at the back. Oki tatami covered the platform and Yuuri inhaled the heart-achingly familiar smell of the pale green rushes. Minami reached for a remote on a shelf near the door and pointed it at the kotatsu in the center of the room. Low bookshelves lined the area under the windows filled with baskets of Minami’s belongings and state-of-the-art electronics. 

“Please have a seat,” he said with a gesture toward the table, “Warm up and we’ll talk.” 

Yuuri hung his coat and scarf on the hook, stuffed his gloves and hat in the pockets and toed off his shoes as he stepped into the room. Stepping up on the platform he smiled at the homey and uniquely Japanese space Kenjirou Minami had created. Mounted on the wall on either side of the window were two posters- the one he had autographed for Minami and a similar-sized poster of Noriaki Namino, also autographed. The microwave dinged and Yuuri jumped. 

Wanting to get out of Minami’s way he moved forward to claim one of the cushions tucking his legs under a fold of the blanket He saw Minami’s quick smile as he realized that he hadn’t entirely hidden his groan of relief at the warmth. Minami joined him after setting a tray with snacks on the table and going back for a container of sake and a couple of cups. 

A large container of sake. 

Minami followed his gaze. “We… um wolves… have a higher metabolism than humans so it takes a little more alcohol for the same effect,” he said with a cute blush that highlighted the tops of his ears and his cheeks. “We will also never, ever, tell my mother that I warm sake in the microwave.” 

Yuuri couldn’t help the snort of laughter that came out of him. “My mother would be the same, Minami-sensi.” 

Minami sat opposite Yuuri and sighed happily as he tucked under the blanket. “I know you have questions…” he said as he poured sake for the two of them and placed the cups in the center of the table. Yuuri picked up a cup and raised it in salute. “Kanpai.” 

Three hours later Yuuri looked at the setting sun and took his leave. The walk back to the station would help clear his head and he’d decide if he was going back to Victor’s or to his apartment. He hadn’t touched his project in two days because he felt he owed Victor more of an explanation than “I’ll think it over”. 

Minami, although a born wolf, was familiar with the process and hinted that since they were Japanese that it might be advantageous to consider who he wanted to turn him if he chose the wolves. There were advantages in Japan to association with the Kenjirou family and he would be adopted into the pack, as would his immediate family since they too would be expected to keep his secret. Werewolf/ vampire liaisons were rare but not unheard of and there had been a few over the ages within the Kenjirou pack. Minami knew of two others besides Otabek and Yuri. What had happened to Otabek- being turned and abandoned- was a complete scandal and if the culprit was ever found there would be dire consequences for their entire pack. 

“It will never happen to you,” Minami declared with a growl lacing his tone. “On my family’s honor, I would swear it.” 

The process of turning was exactly what Yuuri had gathered after hearing the story of Otabek’s turning as Victor understood it. Afterward, what should have happened is that the pack would have gathered around the new member to support them through the first time they turned. Learning to navigate the world of transformation and increased senses was daunting and Minami was impressed that Otabek hadn’t gone completely mad. As far as Yuri and possibly Victor were concerned, all mates were considered family in every sense of the word- no matter the species- all were accepted without question. 

Lost in thought, Yuuri made his way home -when had he started thinking of it as that- to Victor and a decision that he still couldn’t make. The sun was down by the time he arrived and when he knocked the door opened quickly enough that he knew Victor had been waiting close by for him to come home. Victor’s hug was tight and suspiciously long as he felt the vampire’s nose move into the side of his neck for warmth and scent. He returned the hug and squirmed a little so that Victor would turn loose so he could get out of his coat. 

Yuuri had just taken off his scarf and Victor was helping him out of his coat solicitously when Yuri and Otabek clattered out of the kitchen wearing their riding leathers. Victor’s expression darkened a little and was replaced by what Yuuri was beginning to recognize as a pleasant mask when he didn’t want anyone to know what he was thinking. It was impossible to miss the hurt in his eyes and it wrung his heart that he had contributed to that.

The pair were halfway past them when Yuri stopped and slipped the backpack off his shoulder to the floor. “Someone’s been drinking tonight," he said with a sly smile as he turned to regard the other couple in the foyer. 

Yuuri blushed to the roots of his hair and took . “A little,” he stammered, “I met with Minami-san earlier and we had sake at his apartment while we talked.” 

Yuri’s nostrils flared and before he could make another comment, Otabek had clapped a gloved hand to his shoulder and said “Let’s go. We have places to be tonight.” Leaning over, Yuri grabbed his backpack and hauled it up on his shoulder as he looked past Yuuri to Victor. “You kids have fun. Don’t wait up for us.” 

The door closed and Yuuri turned to Victor, feeling bold from the lingering effects of the sake. “Do you have to go out tonight?” he asked as he gave Victor a purely predatory and oh-so-heated look. I think I want to spend the night in with you.” 

Victor stared at this surprising version of Yuuri and muttered “Nothing that can’t be postponed until next month… or the rest of time.” 

“Good,” Yuuri said softly as he reached out to gently grasp Victor’s perfectly knotted tie and pull him closer gently to touch their foreheads together. “I don’t plan on your taking your eyes off of me for the rest of the night. We’re going to get the smell of werewolf off of me before dawn.” 

The sounds of the motorcycle faded into the distance. 

Victor’s face morphed from surprise to heat as the words sunk in. “Yuuuuuuuurrrriiiii… it will be my pleasure,” he said as he leaned in for a kiss. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Victor might not be above adding sake to the weekly grocery list.  
> Thank you to those of you that have left kudos and comments on this tale. They are all appreciated.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A secret the vampires didn't find out first. (Well... Victor might know but Yuri didn't)  
> Pillow-talk.  
> Otabek and Yuri  
> Just a snippet in the middle of a larger story, really

“Beka.” The voice was so soft a human would have mistaken it for a sigh. 

*silence*

“Beka.”

Otabek Altin’s consciousness dove- desperate for a few more REMs in the vain hope Yuri would give up. The unfortunate side effect of any conscious effort, no matter if he moved or not, was that his heart rate sped up. It was faster than normal already. The day after the full moons always left him a little closer to the wolf. Faster heart rate. Sharper senses. Enhanced… appetites.

A soft snicker preceded the whispered “I can hear your heartbeat, Beka. I know you’re awake”. The last sentence was accompanied by the softest brush of lips at the back of his neck and the tip of a cool nose at his hairline that shot sensations through his body to places that never minded being disturbed.

“Five more minutes, Yuri. Just five more minutes…” he sighed as the cooler body slid smoothly from the electric blanket warmed side of the bed and applied itself to his naked back and tangled its slightly longer legs with his at the ankle.

They both wore either sleeping shorts or pants to bed (because cats) so the skin on skin contact was a little limited.

Yuri had all the patience of a cat that wanted breakfast and today was no exception. Privately Otabek thought it was unfair that friction seemed to have no claim on vampires who could shimmy across almost any surface smoothly without disturbance. If he’d moved like that the covers would either have held him captive or stuck to him and dragged awkwardly into a tangle. Probably the bed would fall apart too- just for spite.

An arm snaked over his side. “I missed you last night, Beka. Viktor made me go visiting with him,” said Yuri in an overt bid for sympathy.

On the rare (and compulsory) occasions that Yuri had to go with Victor to attend meetings, he wore suits that never failed to make Otabek’s breath catch in his throat. Tailored expertly, they added breadth and a hint of increased mass that aged him up subtly from late teen to young adult in the company of Victor. His long hair was usually caught up in some combination of braids and ponytail that never failed to look both savage and elegant. 

“Oh no,” Otabek teased with mock horror, “Victor made you dress up and go with him to be nice to people?”

“It’s not fair,” griped Yuri with a classic roll of his eyes, “He knows how much I hate it.”

With an exaggerated sigh of defeat, Otabek rolled back into Yuri and bent his knees to tangle his lower legs with his best friend and lover’s. Yuri shoved his nose behind the nearest ear and sniffed audibly, licked gently, and kissed his way around to the corner of the mouth for another brief lick.

“Someone didn’t wash up. You smell like wet fur and woods,” Yuri muttered as he licked again- a teasing flick of his tongue as he propped up on an elbow for better access, “and you taste like deer.”

The teasing kisses trailed down his throat and Otabek groaned and fought not to squirm as it felt like most of his blood moved to pool far lower than his neck and tried for distraction instead. “Yuuri Katsuki came out to the farm last night,” he murmured. 

The effect was instantaneous as Yuri went absolutely still above him.

“What the fuck, Beka!” Yuri hissed as he shot up to his knees and gave Otabek;s shoulder a shove that moved him over two inches on the bed. “You should have waked me up the… wait, does Viktor know? Shit! He’s gonna have a fucking fit. Katsudon is a dead man walking for not telling him.”

“… up the minute I got home? Yura, do you realize that you do actually sleep like the dead at times, don’t you?” Otabek arched an eyebrow and looked equal parts exhausted and amused. “Besides, what Katsuki does with his life is for him to decide.”

A snort preceded one of the too-fast-to track movements that never failed to startle him (and freak out the wolf) as Yuri moved from beside him to on top of him with one hand on the bed just beside his throat. The mischievous grin showed the entire length of his fangs and his green eyes sparkled with merriment as he leaned in for a kiss. “You’re still giving your mate all the details, yes?”

Otabek grabbed the vampire’s waist and lifted him straight overhead before dropping him on to the bed right beside him and rolling on top to finish the kiss before working his way down to kiss the cool column of his throat right over where the pulse should have been before nipping it with his teeth. 

Yuri squirmed, arching up with a deep groan to put his hands on Otabek’s chest. “You are not going to distract me.”

Murmuring against his boyfriend’s skin, Otabek said “You do realize that every time I lift you like that, you pose like an ice dancer, don’t you? It’s so sexy.” He laughed at the outraged gasp followed by a stream of profanity as he rubbed his face into Yuri’s cooler skin, pressing kisses and nips that silenced the protests.

Slipping a thigh between Yuri’s he pressed in gently to assess Yuri’s interest and revealing his own. Immediately the hands against his chest stopped pushing and slid around his back to pull him closer. Physically Yuri was usually the stronger of the two but not by much. Otabek always won the grappling struggles he cared to because he understood the physics of fighting far better than Yuri did. If his vampire boyfriend ever took up a martial art, he was done for.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goin' to the dacha... and we're gonna get married...  
> (the afternoon before the ceremony)  
> Mila's in town as are all the other guests from Japan and Russia- I'm still in the AU from "A Heart Beats at Night". Seriously, if you haven't read it, please do so. It made me write a fanfic of a fanfic. I've never done that before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I give up. I keep thinking that I'm going to finish this and be done in 3 chapters, then 7 chapters, then 10 chapters. It's gonna get done when I'm finished with it.  
> This one's short- as much because I have to keep moving before something stagnates.

Usually the transition between sleeping and awake was nearly instantaneous. Victor wrote that off as a learned habit from when he’d been turned. Being abandoned right after being turned compelled him to sleep only for short periods and wake quickly for threat surveillance. It had been terrifying at first to wake wrapped up in the tarp and he had given himself a few nasty burns by accident when he tried to adjust it. 

In contrast, today’s awakening was a slow and languorous transition that reminded him of the days he got to sleep late after competitions when he was human. Maybe Yuuri was rubbing off on him. Happily, there was no painful protest of sore muscles as he composed his limbs from their usual sprawl around his fiancée’s warm body. Beside him, Katsuki Yuuri slumbered on, breathing regularly with a soft sound as he inhaled.   
Victor found that soft snore infinitely endearing. There was so much about Yuuri that was loveable. The fact that their strengths had begun to complement each other and that Yuuri needed him as much as he needed Yuuri… Victor felt complete for the first time in his life. 

Tonight, Yuuri would step into his own immortality by his own choice. Victor couldn’t wait. Yuuri’s mortality had been a source of constant anxiety for him since the moment they’d declared for each other. All kinds of things could happen to him in daylight that Victor couldn’t protect him from.

Victor heard the upstairs shower turn on and the grateful feminine sigh that accompanied it. Mila, in town for the ceremony, was starting to get ready. Yuuri stirred and then woke, his eyes finding Victor’s and squinting a little to help bring him into focus. Victor rolled over with a smile that Yuri had mocked him for early on in their relationship. 

Thinking about the times he’d caught Otabek and Yuri with that same sappy, satisfied smile since they’d worked their shit out made one corner of his smile lift in a smirk that Yuuri noticed immediately.   
“What?” Katsuki had registered the smirk and rolled over on his back, managing to look both adorably disheveled and deeply suspicious. “Vitya, I know that look. No secrets on our wedding day, please.”

Victor flopped back on the bed with a long-suffering sigh. “I was thinking about Yuri falling in love with Otabek again. He has been acting as sappy and gross as he used to mock us for being.”

Yuuri’s eyes lit with affection as he chuckled and then sobered. “Are you nervous about tonight?”

Victor was silent for long enough for Yuuri to roll on to his elbow for a better look at his fiancée’s face before putting a hand on his chest. The blue and white striped pajamas had been a birthday gift from Otabek for his last birthday. They were wonderfully soft against his skin and had the added benefit of keeping his cold skin out of contact with Yuuri’s when they slept together. Cuddling increased when he wore them to the point that Victor bought three more pair. Victor knew that his daytime sleep included periods of death-like immobility interspersed with periods of movement that drew him toward any other sleepers in the bed. He’d heard Yuuri describe him as an octopus once to Phichit when he thought that Victor wasn’t listening. Yuri had also griped at him about the habit during the times they’d traveled in a cargo container that made for incredibly close quarters for days at a time-- so maybe he was a little clingy in his sleep.

“I can’t believe it’s real- the whole eternity together thing Yuuuuuri... I keep thinking that someone or something is going to take it away from me.”

Yuuri’s brows drew together slightly. “Isn’t anxiety supposed to be my specialty? I can be anxious enough for all of us,” he said as he traced the matching ring on Victor’s finger with a finger. They’d gotten the rings in Barcelona earlier in the year. Yakov had invited Victor to come watch a promising but troublingly inconsistent student practice. Since it was only a four hour flight and could safely be done after sunset, Victor had taken Yuuri with him and they’d made a sort of vacation out of it. They’d shopped their way over to the rink and met Yakov there to be admitted to the arena well after midnight. Only someone of Yakov’s stature and history could have pulled off such a feat. 

They’d sat, watching the young skater from Australia of all places, skate. Two years away from his senior debut the young skater was an incredibly mature skater but there was a hesitancy to his performance.

“Sloppy,” Victor had muttered at first.

“No,” said Yurri who was also watching intently, “He’s injured. Look at how he’s favoring his left side.” 

Victor looked again at the skater and saw it also. That had led to Victor’s going to tell Yakov their observations. That had led to a physical exam in which it was discovered that some of the motivational techniques used by his parents involved a piece of pipe wrapped in a towel. The scandal had been horrific with screaming parents led away in handcuffs. At the end Yakov had wound up with yet another student to raise. “They keep me young,” he’d said to Victor on the phone. “He’s coming to you in the summers for training, though. The kid knows how to keep a secret and Mila will be with him.”

Yuuri had given him his ring that night in Barcelona as a promise that he’d be Victor’s forever- one day.

Victor chuckled and scooted up in the bed to move pillows so he could prop comfortably against the headboard. Yuuri moved over and placed his head on his mate’s chest to stare up at him, brown eyes tender and loving as Victor’s fingers stroked through his silky black hair. They were really doing this.

Two sharp knocks sounded on the bedroom door as Yura’s voice filtered through, “Oi!! Victor! You two better be awake. We’re leaving here the minute the sun is down! Katsuki, Christophe is picking you up in ten minutes so you can go get ready at the dacha.”

Victor was rolling his eyes and Yurri had clapped a hand over his mouth to hide the giggle as Otabek’s barely audible voice filtered through the door as he headed down the stairs for his first cup of coffee, “Hunting lodge.”

“Beh--ka…” the aggression in Yuri’s voice trailed off. “It’s bad enough I have to wear a suit and tie for this. Quit nit-picking.”

“We’re awake, Yura,” Victor called through the door as he gathered Yuuri to him. "Go bother your own mate and leave us be.” Then he leaned down to capture Yuuri’s lips as he slid down to press their bodies together tightly.

“Mmmmmmmmmmmm….” Yuuri purred.

“I can hear that and you’re both disgusting!” Yuri half-yelled through the door. “Nine minutes, Katsuki! You know Chris has no shame and will drag you naked from the room and out to his car if he has to.”

Yuuri didn’t exactly _meep_ but he slid from Victor’s arms and began to put some clothes on to travel in. 

Victor hissed at the door, fangs fully bared as he flopped back on the bed to sulk.


	11. Chapter 11

Mila would ride with Victor to the farm. 

Half an hour before true sunset she swept down the stairs dressed in a red velvet dress so dark it could be mistaken for black and classically cut to the point it would have been considered magnificent at any point since the 1880s. The portrait neckline showed off her well defined and clavicles and long elegant neck. Yuri and Otabek were standing in the entry hall near the low table where the vampires kept the back packs they took on any journey more than thirty minutes away from the house at Victor’s insistence. The mated pair watched her descend the stairs as Yuri let out a low whistle of appreciation at the same time Otabek muttered “wow…” Grabbing his backpack from the table, Yuri motioned at her to turn around and Mila spun in a slow circle that flared the skirt. “You clean up nice, Baba,” he said with a smirk.

“So do you,” she said with a smile, “You should wear a suit more often. You too, Otabek. You look really nice.” Although he looked exactly the same as he had when he died, Yuri had changed enough to be almost unrecognizable to anyone that hadn’t known him for years. The confidence bestowed by a loving relationship with his mate and the poise granted by an adult maturity had softened so many of the jagged edges he’d developed as an adolescent to the point he was -likeable- which was a word she never imagined she would ever apply to him. 

Green eyes narrowed at her. “You do know that there are other actual vampires besides me and Victor going to this tonight, right? There are some in Minami’s family that he said might show up. It’s a good thing we know who you are since that dress makes you look like an appetizer.” He shoved lightly tinted sunglasses on to protect his eyes from the uncomfortable glare of residual sunlight. 

Victor didn’t like it when they went out this early even if Otabek’s car had specially tinted glass that protected Yuri. She’d seen the hard look in Victor’s eyes as they left when there was still light in the sky even though they were always well within the safety margins for vampires. She didn’t want to think how they’d worked that out.

Mila arched a brow. “Don’t make me turn you into an actual bat, Yuri,” she said in the archaic dialect of Russian that the witches used for spells and communication among themselves, “I can take care of myself.” Smirking, she watched his eyes widen and Otabek stiffen beside him before she swept into the kitchen to make tea- yards of fabric hissing and purring softly as she moved.

“Just try it, hag,” she heard Yuri laughing as Otabek was shoving him out the door into the twilight. The werewolf’s eyes caught hers there was caution in his gaze. Mila headed to the kitchen to make some tea while she waited for Victor.

Ten minutes after Otabek and Yuri left, Victor clattered down the stairs clad in jeans, high-end hiking boots, and a dress shirt. He looked uncharacteristically tense.

Ignoring Mila’s raised eyebrow he strode across the kitchen and pulled one of the cartons of blood out of the refrigerator and sniffed it before making a face and tossing it in the bin. Mila watched from her seat at the table as he grabbed another and sniffed that before reaching for a mug. Yuri had confided in her once that he scoured the junk-sellers to find garish mugs to annoy Victor. This one was a searing shade of orange with an abstract pattern of teal and purple that made it easier for her to avert her eyes as Victor poured it almost full before popping it in the microwave.

“That’s kind of casual for a wedding, don’t you think?” she asked before her common sense could kick in. She and Victor weren’t much more than friends of mutual friends although she was staying in his house. Witches usually stayed away from vampires and she’d heard _stories_ enough from her family and coven to know that if you crossed one you invited a lifetimes of hassle for your present and future family.

Victor looked mildly embarrassed as he watched the cup turn in the microwave. “It’s Yuuri’s shirt. I put it on because… because it reminds me of him as he is now.”

Oh. _Oh_

“It isn’t going to be the same after tonight, is it?” Mila asked gently. “Are you… concerned?”

The microwave dinged in the silence, giving Victor a moment to grab it and sit at the table across from Mila. He looked tired, she thought, frozen in eerie perfection for the ages but if you knew where to look you could tell. Mila stretched out her hand and placed it on top of the one he had fisted next to the mug. His head bowed slightly as he avoided her eyes.

“We want to be together always,” he said slowly, the shining platinum of his fringe not quite covering his eyes as they raised to meet hers. “I just worry that he’s making the decision because it’s what he thinks I want rather than for himself. If he winds up being unhappy about this and stuck in immortality- I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Squeezing his hand gently, Mila said “He loves you. It’s all over his aura. I think that even if he has some lingering reservations about what ever flavor of immortality he chooses, he knows it’s the best chance he has for a long and happy life with you.”  
Victor’s eyes met hers. “I hope so. I just feel so responsible. It was bad after I turned Yura but I didn’t have time to think about it beforehand. It's worse now because I think we have all had too much time to think about it and he's been so anxious lately.”

Mila squeezed his hand again and returned it to her own cup. “He’s a grown man. He’s had a wonderful professional career doing something he loved- and will still love for many, many years to come. The benefits have to outweigh the drawbacks.”

“I hope so,” Victor muttered and took a sip from his mug.

Lifting her mug, Mila offered him a bright smile. “Любить.”

A corner of Victor’s mouth turned up with the beginnings of a smile. “You’re too Russian to believe that love is all it takes.”

“Tch,” she scoffed with a mock frown to try and hide her own smile. She took a sip of tea. She was going to have to pry the brand name out of Otabek. “Tell me,” Mila leaned closer, “What did he choose to become?"

Victor’s smile widened and his eyes twinkled mischievously. “You’ll find out at the wedding just like everyone else.”

“Bah,” she snapped with mock offense, “Vampires and their damned secrets. You want to know everything but never tell anyone anything. It’s so annoying.”

“That’s only because you witches share all your secrets just as easily.”

“Fair point,” she conceded as she studied her tea minutely. Mila liked Victor and given his relationship with Yuri and Yuri’s grandfather he was practically family now. Witches were… invasive… in their family life so she was practically genetically driven to know more about who he was and how vampires functioned. She imagined that he’d been cautioned to avoid witches to avoid blood feuds that could wipe out families and last centuries. Maybe vampires were to be avoided but the two- possibly three- in this house were exceptions to the rule. She'd need to remember to spell the threshold with the protective mark of her family to warn any witches with ill intent that this family was protected.

Victor's hand, warm from the cup he'd been holding, slid across the table and grasped her wrist gently

Mila looked up and met his summer-sky gaze.

"I want to tell you how much I appreciate what you've done for Yuri and Nikolai. You taking care of his grandfather has helped Yuri not worry so much. I know you look after Yakov, too, when he lets you. That takes worry for my oldest friend off my mind. I - I wanted to say to you that if you ever need my help with anything, I am here... as your friend."

The tears began to well in Mila's eyes and she looked up for a moment to keep them from falling. "Tch. We passed friends a while back, Nikiforov, you're family as far as I'm concerned."

"Thank you," was Victor's soft reply as he took the mug to the sink and headed out of the kitchen abruptly. She heard his boots on the stairs going up.

Mila stood and took her own mug to the sink and headed for the entryway to wait.

~0~

Victor slipped the wool coat up Mila's arms gently and patted her shoulders. “Thank you for staying behind. I appreciate the company for the ride.”

“You’re family and I’ve always wanted to get to know you better. When I’ve visited before there was always so much drama or someone always needed you. My questions could wait.”

Victor leaned forward until his lips were almost under her ear. “He picked wolf. Even Yuri doesn’t know that.”

“Ha.” Mila cackled, “Yuri owes me a hundred Euros.” She turned and hugged Victor tightly. “Never doubt all the good you’ve done in people’s lives, you meddler,” she said softly as she slid her hands up to cup his jaw on either side. “I wish you only joy and contentment.”

Victor’s cool hands gently covered hers on his face. “Thank you. I hope so, too. It all seems like a dream at this point.”

Mila turned and reached for the door as Victor snagged the strap of his backpack. “Let’s go get this done, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Любить- "To love"


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor and Mila drive to the wedding site and Victor gets lost in memories of when she helped out with the newly awakened Yuri. It was a difficult time all around.  
> If you haven't read iguanastevens' "A Heart Beats at Night" this fic is built in that YOI Vampire AU (https://archiveofourown.org/works/9342170/chapters/21727220#workskin)

Victor was grateful that the drive to the farmhouse had been uneventful. Mila really was very good company on the drive- keeping him entertained with stories of her family along with stories about Otabek and Yuri in their Juniors days. 

There hadn’t been time for these stories when they’d first spent time together as they waited for Yuri to wake up fully. As the initial urgency of extracting Yuri from his grave gave way to the creeping reality that he had a new vampire on his hands and no idea what to do with him, Victor hadn’t had time to think, much less listen to anything that wasn’t focused on keeping Yuri (and himself) alive.

At first, Yakov had been there and the awkwardness of Victor's barging into the Plisetsky family home- even for the best of reasons- had eased a little. 

When Yakov left, Mila had begun coming around- usually to bring food for Nikolai and blood for Victor and Yuri. Already uneasy in what he felt was a barely secured home and surrounded by strangers, Victor had been a ball of anxiety and rarely left the light-proofed room that had been Yuri’s childhood bedroom to tiptoe down stairs and warm some blood for them both.

The room felt small and claustrophobic at first, but once Victor moved the wardrobe in front of one of the windows, swept, and borrowed a lamp from downstairs which helped brighten things up it was tolerable. There was a chair at the small desk and he spent most of his time there waiting on the dead teen to rouse beyond a few grimaces and moans while fighting off the worry that this was as good as it would get because he'd made a mistake. When he slept, which wasn’t much, he did so beside the bed and tried to sleep lightly in case there was some change that needed his attention.

Nikolai would come by and sit quietly for short periods a few times a day- usually bringing a copy of Pravda as if Victor didn’t have the whole world at his fingertips with his laptop and phone. Victor was reminded of the times he and Yakov occasionally slept over at each other’s apartment and woke to drink terrible coffee as they shared a newspaper the following morning. The old man was prone to playing Soviet- era music on an ancient record player and Victor often found himself tapping a foot along with the music of his youth, lost in nostalgic thoughts. At night, when the house was dark, Victor would creep downstairs to the small kitchen and heat up the blood he needed. Usually he would take a small glass of the lukewarm blood back upstairs to see if the smell or a few drops of his blood would make Yuri stir.

Nikolai had knocked on the door the third night and invited him to come downstairs. He’d fed Yuri earlier and that always seemed to make him quieter for a couple of hours afterward so downstairs he went, leaving the door cracked so he could hear him if he stirred. The old man led the way to the small table in the kitchen and Nikolai had poured a shot of vodka for himself and tilted the bottle toward Victor in offering. Sadly, Victor shook his head no and gestured for Nikolai to please drink without him. The trademark Plisetsky scowl flitted across the old man’s features and he rose and went to the stove to pour the contents of a pan into a ceramic cup which he carefully placed on a saucer and brought to the table before sitting again. The blood looked decidedly odd in such nice china Victor mused as Nikolai sat down heavily in the sturdy chair and brought his vodka up in a clear indication that a toast was the next step. Victor raised his teacup and the two clicked the edges of their drinks together.

“You’re getting enough of this, I hope?” the old man came straight to the point.

Victor nodded. “I am, thank you.” God this was awkward. 

“Thank you for saving him.” This was even more awkward.

In lieu of a blush, Victor looked down and away as he shifted a little in his seat. Gratitude wasn’t something he was used to or particularly comfortable with. Especially now since the magnitude of what he had done, along with his sketchy knowledge of what he was actually doing was beginning to weigh on his thoughts now that the major crisis had passed. Commitment wasn’t his strength. He’d been committed to skating at one point but that had faded as he aged and vanished when he’d turned. Before he could begin to brood on all the awful things that might happen, he pasted on a soft version of the smile he once showed the crowds and turned back to Nikolai to say “I was glad to be able to help.”

They’d talked for a while after that, Nikolai shared a few stories from Yuri’s childhood and brought out a picture of his late wife as well as one of Yuri’s mother when she was a child. It was clear that Yuri had gotten his coloring from her, but his face looked Plisetsky although narrower with a decidedly different tilt to his eyes and thinner lips.

Victor had nothing but respect for Nikolai Plisetsky already and the stories he’d heard from Yakov about what the old man had done in stepping forward to care for his grandson made him wish he could do more. He’d sat with the old man in the darkened living room of the house as they waited for Yuri to revive more fully. The second day, Yuri had stirred more and sluggishly snapped at Victor's hand as he pushed his hair off his face. Victor nicked the side of his hand and let the sluggish drops of blood drip between the teen's slightly parted lips as the wound quickly healed. Maybe more vampire blood would help. There wasn't much reaction but after several moments Victor saw him swallow and his eyelids twitched as his face drew into a brief frown and then relaxed. Victor reached down and lifted Yuri’s upper lip a little. The canine had developed the razor-like edges of Victor’s own at the tip but wasn’t much longer than normal.

Mila had shown up with blood again the following day and that night Victor had carefully spooned more of it into Yuri’s mouth after propping him up on pillows. There wasn’t much of a reaction until Yuri’s eyes blinked open to stare blankly into the distance. Victor laid a hand on Yuri’s and and said softly “You’re at your grandfather’s. You’re home.” The glittering green gaze had flicked to him and just for a second he saw a flicker of intelligence in the gaze before the lids closed. 

Things sped up from there. By the end of the fourth day Yuri seemed just on the verge of waking up. There were eye movements under the closed lids and sometimes he squirmed under the covers that he didn’t really need but Victor felt might make his waking feel more normal. Victor was careful never to leave Nikolai or Mina alone with Yuri for their own safety. Propped up in bed, Yuri’s eyes would sometimes open when he was fed, and he had begun to look at the people in the room but the stare remained disturbingly vacant. The occasional grimace now revealed far longer canines that were now what Victor approximated the length of his own. He gave in to his curiosity and peeked at them, having never seen any up close before,

Then Yuri woke up and four hours later Victor was sure he’d bitten off more than he could metaphorically chew as he watched the boy sit on the worn sofa wrapped in quilts beside his grandfather. The boy’s eyes strayed to the door more than once during that first night and Victor knew in his gut that a bolt was imminent at some point. He could have kissed Mila when she arrived with more blood and a commonsense approach to Yuri based in years of having dealt with him as a rink mate. Nikolai was heading up the stairs to bed and waved at her tiredly as she swept into the room bearing a bag filled with opaque blue bottles of animal blood. 

“Yura!” Mila dropped the bags on the floor and rushed over to Yuri to gather him in her arms in a spontaneous gesture of joy the young man reflexively returned. Mila gave a little gasp at the strength of his embrace. Already in motion, Victor saw the moment that Yuri, having taken a breath to speak, smelled the blood scent of her skin and went still in a way that was purely predatory.

“Yuri!!” Victor said loudly and in the same breath “Mila, step back.”

They both jumped apart as he stepped between them facing Yuri, arms spread in case instinct makes the teen lunge. 

Victor remembers how _hungry_ he was at first. He’s forgotten many other things, but that memory will probably be with him always. Their eyes lock and slowly Victor steps forward as he gently herds Yuri back to the kitchen and away from Mila’s now-thundering heartbeat. If he were breathing now the scent of adrenaline would be mouth-watering. Luckily Yuri doesn’t seem to be breathing right now either. Yuri’s lips are curled away from his teeth with fangs on full display in a clear threat. Victor knows he’s doing the same thing as he hears Mila’s soft gasp and increased heart rate as he slowly backs Yuri out of the room. Yuri growls softly- denied. Victor growls back an octave lower and determined as he takes in the youth’s clenched fists. Eventually Yuri drops his eyes and stomps off into the kitchen.

Victor looks over his shoulder at Mila, standing there tense and defensive with her arms loose and ready to defend herself. “We’ll need a few minutes,” he says quietly as he scoops up the bag of blood bottles she dropped and heads into the kitchen. Ten minutes later they are both sat at the kitchen table with mugs of slightly warmed blood. Victor hides his grimace at the first sip. Fresh blood is so much better. 

Yuri takes a tentative sip and then gulps the entire contents of the mug with a desperation that Victor finds hard to watch. To cover the sympathetic look he wants to give, he gets up and heads to the stove for the pan. He refills the mug again when it is lowered.

Again.

And again. Then he tops off his own mug with warmer blood and drinks it down.

Yuri has lowered the mug to the table and is sitting there with his head leaned back, staring at the ceiling- probably seeing nothing but feeling the intense rush of energy that the blood gives. Feeding is more than necessity, Victor has learned the hard way that the pleasure is intense and that prepared blood is a pale shadow of drinking from a live source. Tonight is not the night to explain that. Instead he folds a paper towel and wets it before handing it to Yuri who looks at him like he’s lost his mind.  
“You’re not going to be able to see your reflection anymore, Yuri,” he says as kindly as he can. “You have blood on your mouth, chin, and the right side of your neck that you need to clean off before it dries. You can feel it if you concentrate.”

Yuri looked at Victor like he wanted to say something caustic but stops himself- distracted by the appearance of Mila who is hovering in the doorway watching without judgement. “I’m sorry Baba…” he starts.

“Tch,” she interrupts him as she comes forward to take the wet towel from Victor and proceeds to wipe off Yuri’s face with an efficiency bordering on maternal. He starts to protest when her fingers tangle gently in his hair and she plants a kiss on his forehead. “Shush. I’m glad you’re here no matter what form you’re in. So is everyone else that knows. We all owe Victor our thanks.”

“I never asked for this,” snapped Yuri before shoving his chair back hard and stalking out of the room and up the stairs. A door slammed.

Mila cuts Victor a sympathetic look. “You’ve got your work cut out for you.”

“It’ll work out,” Victor says with a confidence he doesn’t feel. "We’ll leave for Berlin tomorrow night. If you could arrange for his things to be sent? Maybe he won’t feel so disconnected, but I need to get him out of Russia before he bolts and I can’t find him."

“I’ll bring some of his clothes later today… and his cat,” Mila said slowly as she tossed the bloody towel in the garbage. “He won’t leave his cat or his grandfather for long if he does run. Once he gets attached to someone, it’s forever… even if it breaks his heart.”

Victor just nods as he taps one finger against his lower lip, lost in thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up... the marriage and the turning of Katsuki Yuuri.


End file.
